Editorial Note on Part 655
Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to part 655 appear at 71 FR 35521, 35522, June 21, 2006.

Editorial Note on Subpart L of Part 655
Editorial Note: Nomenclature changes to subpart L of part 655 appear at 75 FR 10403, Mar. 5, 2010.

§ 655.1102 What are the definitions of terms that are used in these regulations? For the purposes of subparts L and M of this part: *Accepted for filing* means that the Attestation and any supporting documentation submitted by the facility have been received by the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor and have been found to be complete and acceptable for purposes of Attestation requirements in §§ 655.1110 through 655.1118.
*Administrative Law Judge* means an official appointed under 5 U.S.C. 3105.
*Administrator* means the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, Department of Labor, and such authorized representatives as may be designated to perform any of the functions of the Administrator under subparts L and M of this part.
*Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC* ) means the primary official of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC Administrator), or the OFLC Administrator's designee.
*Aggrieved party* means a person or entity whose operations or interests are adversely affected by the employer's alleged misrepresentation of material fact(s) or non-compliance with the Attestation and includes, but is not limited to: ( 1 ) A worker whose job, wages, or working conditions are adversely affected by the facility's alleged misrepresentation of material fact(s) or non-compliance with the attestation;
( 2 ) A bargaining representative for workers whose jobs, wages, or working conditions are adversely affected by the facility's alleged misrepresentation of material fact(s) or non-compliance with the attestation;
( 3 ) A competitor adversely affected by the facility's alleged misrepresentation of material fact(s) or non-compliance with the attestation; and
( 4 ) A government agency which has a program that is impacted by the facility's alleged misrepresentation of material fact(s) or non-compliance with the attestation.
*Attorney General* means the chief official of the U.S. Department of Justice or the Attorney General's designee.
*Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA)* means a panel of one or more administrative law judges who serve on the permanent Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals established by 20 CFR part 656. BALCA consists of administrative law judges assigned to the Department of Labor and designated by the Chief Administrative Law Judge to be members of the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals.
*Certifying Officer* means a Department of Labor official, or such official's designee, who makes determinations about whether or not H-1C attestations are acceptable for certification.
*Chief Administrative Law Judge* means the chief official of the Office of the Administrative Law Judges of the Department of Labor or the Chief Administrative Law Judge's designee.
*Date of filing* means the date an Attestation is “accepted for filing” by ETA.
*Department* and *DOL* mean the United States Department of Labor.
*Division* means the Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration, DOL.
Employed or employment means the employment relationship as determined under the common law, except that a facility which files a petition on behalf of an H-1C nonimmigrant is deemed to be the employer of that H-1C nonimmigrant without the necessity of the application of the common law test. Under the common law, the key determinant is the putative employer's right to control the means and manner in which the work is performed. Under the common law, “no shorthand formula or magic phrase * * * can be applied to find the answer * * *. [A]ll of the incidents of the relationship must be assessed and weighed with no one factor being decisive.” *NLRB* v. *United Ins. Co. of America,* 390 U.S. 254, 258 (1968). The determination should consider the following factors and any other relevant factors that would indicate the existence of an employment relationship: ( 1 ) The firm has the right to control when, where, and how the worker performs the job;
( 2 ) The work does not require a high level of skill or expertise;
( 3 ) The firm rather than the worker furnishes the tools, materials, and equipment;
( 4 ) The work is performed on the premises of the firm or the client;
( 5 ) There is a continuing relationship between the worker and the firm;
( 6 ) The firm has the right to assign additional projects to the worker;
( 7 ) The firm sets the hours of work and the duration of the job;
( 8 ) The worker is paid by the hour, week, month or an annual salary, rather than for the agreed cost of performing a particular job;
( 9 ) The worker does not hire or pay assistants;
( 10 ) The work performed by the worker is part of the regular business (including governmental, educational and nonprofit operations) of the firm;
( 11 ) The firm is itself in business;
( 12 ) The worker is not engaged in his or her own distinct occupation or business;
( 13 ) The firm provides the worker with benefits such as insurance, leave, or workers' compensation;
( 14 ) The worker is considered an employee of the firm for tax purposes (*i.e.,* the entity withholds federal, state, and Social Security taxes);
( 15 ) The firm can discharge the worker; and
( 16 ) The worker and the firm believe that they are creating an employer-employee relationship.
*Employment and Training Administration (ETA)* means the agency within the Department of Labor (DOL) which includes the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC).
*Facility* means a “subsection (d) hospital” (as defined in section 1886(d)(1)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(1)(B)) that meets the following requirements: ( 1 ) As of March 31, 1997, the hospital was located in a health professional shortage area (as defined in section 332 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 245e)); and
( 2 ) Based on its settled cost report filed under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 *et seq.*) for its cost reporting period beginning during fiscal year 1994— ( i ) The hospital has not less than 190 licensed acute care beds;
( ii ) The number of the hospital's inpatient days for such period which were made up of patients who (for such days) were entitled to benefits under part A of such title is not less than 35 percent of the total number of such hospital's acute care inpatient days for such period; and
( iii ) The number of the hospital's inpatient days for such period which were made up of patients who (for such days) were eligible for medical assistance under a State plan approved under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, is not less than 28 percent of the total number of such hospital's acute care inpatient days for such period.
( 3 ) The requirements of paragraph (2) of this definition shall not apply to a facility in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands.
*Full-time employment* means work where the nurse is regularly scheduled to work 40 hours or more per week, unless the facility documents that it is common practice for the occupation at the facility or for the occupation in the geographic area for full-time nurses to work fewer hours per week.
*Geographic area* means the area within normal commuting distance of the place (address) of the intended worksite. If the geographic area does not include a sufficient number of facilities to make a prevailing wage determination, the term “geographic area” shall be expanded with respect to the attesting facility to include a sufficient number of facilities to permit a prevailing wage determination to be made. If the place of the intended worksite is within a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) or Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), any place within the MSA or PMSA will be deemed to be within normal commuting distance of the place of intended employment.
*H-1C nurse* means any nonimmigrant alien admitted to the United States to perform services as a nurse under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(c) of the Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(c)).
*INA* means the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101 *et seq.*
*Lockout* means a labor dispute involving a work stoppage in which an employer withholds work from its employees in order to gain a concession from them.
*Nurse* means a person who is or will be authorized by a State Board of Nursing to engage in registered nursing practice in a State or U.S. territory or possession at a facility which provides health care services. A staff nurse means a nurse who provides nursing care directly to patients. In order to qualify under this definition of “nurse” the alien must: ( 1 ) Have obtained a full and unrestricted license to practice nursing in the country where the alien obtained nursing education, or have received nursing education in the United States;
( 2 ) Have passed the examination given by the Commission on Graduates for Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), or have obtained a full and unrestricted (permanent) license to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment, or have obtained a full and unrestricted (permanent) license in any state or territory of the United States and received temporary authorization to practice as a registered nurse in the state of intended employment; and,
( 3 ) Be fully qualified and eligible under the laws (including such temporary or interim licensing requirements which authorize the nurse to be employed) governing the place of intended employment to practice as a registered nurse immediately upon admission to the United States, and be authorized under such laws to be employed by the employer. For purposes of this paragraph, the temporary or interim licensing may be obtained immediately after the alien enters the United States and registers to take the first available examination for permanent licensure.
*Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC)* means the organizational component within the ETA that provides national leadership and policy guidance and develops regulations and procedures to carry out the responsibilities of the Secretary of Labor under the INA concerning foreign workers seeking admission to the United States.
*Prevailing wage* means the weighted average wage paid to similarly employed registered nurses within the geographic area.
*Secretary* means the Secretary of Labor or the Secretary's designee.
*Similarly employed* means employed by the same type of facility (acute care or long-term care) and working under like conditions, such as the same shift, on the same days of the week, and in the same specialty area.
*State* means one of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
*Strike* means a labor dispute in which employees engage in a concerted stoppage of work (including stoppage by reason of the expiration of a collective-bargaining agreement) or engage in any concerted slowdown or other concerted interruption of operations.
*United States (U.S.)* means the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
*U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)* means the bureau within the Department of Homeland Security that makes determinations under the INA on whether to approve petitions seeking classification and/or admission of nonimmigrant nurses under the H-1C program.
*United States (U.S.) nurse* means any nurse who: is a U.S. citizen; is a U.S. national; is lawfully admitted for permanent residence; is admitted as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. 1157; or is granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. 1158.
*Worksite* means the location where the nurse is involved in the practice of nursing.
[65 FR 51149, Aug. 22, 2000, as amended at 73 FR 78068, Dec. 19, 2008; 75 FR 10404, Mar. 5, 2010]