Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/20/655.1300
Timestamp: 2013-12-18 18:43:41
Document Index: 29000258

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 655', '§ 655', '§ 655', '§ 655', 'art 656', '§ 655', '§ 655', '§ 655', 'art 2']

20 CFR 655.1300 - Overview of subpart B and definition of terms. | Title 20 - Employees' Benefits | Code of Federal Regulations | LII / Legal Information Institute
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20 CFR 655.1300 - Overview of subpart B and definition of terms.
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§ 655.1300
Overview of subpart B and definition of terms.
(a) Overview—
(1) Application filing process.
This subpart provides guidance to employers desiring to apply for a labor certification for the employment of H-2A workers to perform agricultural employment of a temporary or seasonal nature. The regulations in this subpart provide that such employers must file with the Administrator, OFLC an H-2A application on forms prescribed by the ETA that describe the material terms and conditions of employment to be offered and afforded to U.S. and H-2A workers. The application must be filed with the Administrator, OFLC at least 45 calendar days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers. The application must contain attestations of the employer's compliance or promise to comply with program requirements regarding recruitment of eligible U.S. workers, the payment of an appropriate wage, and terms and conditions of employment.
(ii) No more than 75 and no fewer than 60 calendar days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, and as a precursor to the filing of an Application for Temporary Employment Certification, the employer must initiate positive recruitment of eligible U.S. workers and cooperate with the local office of the State Workforce Agency (SWA) which serves the area of intended employment to place a job order into intrastate and interstate recruitment. Prior to commencing recruitment an employer must obtain the appropriate wage for the position directly from the ETA National Processing Center (NPC). The employer must then place a job order with the SWA; place print advertisements meeting the requirements of this regulation; contact former U.S. employees; and, when so designated by the Secretary, recruit in other States of traditional or expected labor supply with a significant number of U.S. workers who, if recruited, would be willing to make themselves available at the time and place needed. The SWA will post the job order locally, as well as in all States listed in the application as anticipated work sites, and in any additional States designated by the Secretary as States of traditional or expected labor supply. The SWA will keep the job order open until the end of the designated recruitment period. No more than 50 days prior to the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, the employer will prepare and sign an initial written recruitment report that it must submit with its Application for Temporary Employment Certification (www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov ). The recruitment report must contain information regarding the original number of openings for which the employer recruited. The employer's obligation to engage in positive recruitment will end on the actual date on which the H-2A workers depart for the place of work, or 3 days prior to the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers, whichever occurs first.
(2) Deficient applications.
The CO will promptly review the application and notify the applicant in writing if there are deficiencies that render the application not acceptable for certification, and afford the applicant a 5 calendar day period (from date of the employer's receipt) to resubmit a modified application or to file an appeal of the CO's decision not to approve the application as acceptable for consideration. Modified applications that fail to cure deficiencies will be denied.
(3) Amendment of applications.
This subpart provides for the amendment of applications. Where the recruitment is not materially affected by such amendments, additional positive recruitment will not be required.
(4) Determinations—
(i) Determinations.
If the employer has complied with the criteria for certification, including recruitment of eligible U.S. workers, the CO must make a determination on the application by 30 days before the first date the employer requires the services of the H-2A workers. An employer's failure to comply with any of the certification criteria or to cure deficiencies identified by the CO may lengthen the time required for processing, resulting in a final determination less than 30 days prior to the stated date of need.
(ii) Certified applications.
This subpart provides that an application for temporary agricultural labor certification will be certified if the CO finds that the employer has not offered and does not intend to offer foreign workers higher wages, better working conditions, or fewer restrictions than those offered and afforded to U.S. workers; that sufficient U.S. workers who are able, willing, qualified, and eligible will not be available at the time and place needed to perform the work for which H-2A workers are being requested; and that the employment of such nonimmigrants will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.
(iii) Fees—
(A) Amount.
This subpart provides that each employer (except joint employer associations) of H-2A workers will pay the appropriate fees to the Department for each temporary agricultural labor certification received.
(B) Timeliness of payment.
The fee must be received by the CO no later than 30 calendar days after the granting of each temporary agricultural labor certification. Fees received any later are untimely. A persistent or prolonged failure to pay fees in a timely manner is a substantial program violation which may result in the denial of future temporary agricultural labor certifications and/or program debarment.
(iv) Denied applications.
This subpart provides that if the application for temporary agricultural labor certification is denied, in whole or in part, the employer may seek expedited review of the denial, or a de novo hearing, by an administrative law judge as provided in this subpart.
(b) Transition of filing procedures from current regulations—
(1) Compliance with these regulations.
Employers with a date of need for H-2A workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural services on or after January 1, 2010 must comply with all of the obligations and assurances required in this subpart.
(2) Transition from former regulations.
Employers with a date of need for H-2A workers for temporary or seasonal agricultural services prior to January 1, 2010 will file applications in the following manner:
(i) Obtaining required wage rate.
An employer will not obtain an offered wage rate through the NPC prior to filing an application, but will complete and submit Form ETA-9142, Application for Temporary Employment Certification no less than 45 days prior to their date of need. The employer will simultaneously submit Form ETA-790 Agricultural and Food Processing Clearance Order, along with the Application for Temporary Employment Certification, directly to the NPC having jurisdiction over H-2A applications.
(ii) Pre-filing activities.
Activities required to be conducted prior to filing under the final rule will be conducted post-filing during this transition period. The employer will be expected to make attestations in its application applicable to its future activities concerning recruitment, payment of the offered wage rate, etc. Employers will not be required to complete an initial recruitment report for submission with the application, but will be required to complete a recruitment report for submission to the NPC prior to certification, and will also be required to complete a final recruitment report covering the entire recruitment period.
(iii) Acceptance of application.
Upon receipt, the NPC will provide the employer with the wage rate to be offered, at a minimum, by the employer, and will process the application in a manner consistent with new § 655.107, issuing a notification of deficiencies for any curable deficiencies within 7 calendar days.
(iv) Processing of application.
Once the application and job order have been accepted, the NPC will transmit a copy of the job order to the SWA(s) serving the area of intended employment to initiate intrastate and interstate clearance, request that the SWA(s) schedule an inspection of the housing, and provide instructions to the employer to commence positive recruitment in a manner consistent with § 655.102(d)(2) through (4). The NPC will designate labor supply States during this period on a case-by-case basis. Such designations must be based on information provided by State agencies or by other sources, and will to the extent information is available take into account the success of recent efforts by out-of-State employers to recruit in that State.
(c) Definitions of terms used in this subpart.
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) means a person within the DOL's Office of Administrative Law Judges appointed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 3105, or a panel of such persons designated by the Chief Administrative Law Judge from the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) established by part 656 of this chapter, which will hear and decide appeals as set forth in § 655.115.
Administrator, OFLC means the primary official of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC ), or the Administrator, OFLC 's designee.
INA means the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. 1101
Prevailing piece rate means that amount that is typically paid to an agricultural worker per piece (which includes, but is not limited to, a load, bin, pallet, bag, bushel, etc.), to be determined by the SWA according to a methodology published by the Department. As is currently the case, the unit of production will be required to be clearly described; e.g., a field box of oranges (1 1/2 bushels), a bushel of potatoes, and Eastern apple box (1 1/2 metric bushels), a flat of strawberries (twelve quarts), etc.
State Workforce Agency (SWA) means the State government agency that receives funds pursuant to the Wagner-Peyser Act to administer the public labor exchange delivered through the State's One-Stop delivery system in accordance with the Wagner-Peyser Act at 29 U.S.C. 49
et seq. Separately, SWAs receive ETA grants, administered by OFLC, to assist them in performing certain activities related to foreign labor certification, including conducting housing inspections.
Successor in interest means that, in determining whether an employer is a successor in interest, the factors used under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act will be considered. When considering whether an employer is a successor for purposes of § 655.118, the primary consideration will be the personal involvement of the firm's ownership, management, supervisors, and others associated with the firm in the violations resulting in a debarment recommendation. Normally, wholly new management or ownership of the same business operation, one in which the former management or owner does not retain a direct or indirect interest, will not be deemed to be a successor in interest for purposes of debarment. A determination of whether or not a successor in interest exists is based on the entire circumstances viewed in their totality. The factors to be considered include:
(d) Definition of agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.
For the purposes of this subpart means the following:
(i) Agricultural labor as defined and applied in sec. 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 at 26 U.S.C. 3121(g) ;
(ii) Agriculture as defined and applied in sec. 3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) at 29 U.S.C. 203(f). Work performed by H-2A workers, or workers in corresponding employment, that is not defined as agriculture in sec. 3(f) is subject to the provisions of the FLSA as provided therein, including the overtime provisions in sec. 7(a)29 U.S.C. 207(a) ;
(i) Agricultural labor.
For purposes of paragraph (d)(1)(i) of this section means all services performed:
(D) (1) In the employ of the operator of a farm in handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural commodity, but only if such operator produced more than one-half of the commodity with respect to which such service is performed;
(ii) Agriculture.
For purposes of paragraph (d)(1)(ii) of this section agriculture means farming in all its branches and among other things includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities as defined as agricultural commodities in 12 U.S.C. 1141j(g) ), the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market. See 29 U.S.C. 203(f), as amended.
(iii) Agricultural commodity.
For purposes of paragraph (d)(2)(ii) of this section agricultural commodity includes, in addition to other agricultural commodities, crude gum (oleoresin) from a living tree, and gum spirits of turpentine and gum rosin as processed by the original producer of the crude gum (oleoresin) from which derived. Gum spirits of turpentine means spirits of turpentine made from gum (oleoresin) from a living tree and gum rosin means rosin remaining after the distillation of gum spirits of turpentine. See 12 U.S.C. 1141j(g), sec. 15(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act, as amended, and 7 U.S.C. 92.
(3) Of a temporary or seasonal nature—
(i) On a seasonal or other temporary basis.
For the purposes of this subpart, of a temporary or seasonal nature means on a seasonal or other temporary basis, as defined in the WHD's regulation at 29 CFR 500.20 under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).
(ii) MSPA definition.
The definition of on a seasonal or other temporary basis found in MSPA is summarized as follows:
(iii) Temporary.
For the purposes of this subpart, the definition of “temporary” in paragraph (d)(3) of this section refers to any job opportunity covered by this subpart where the employer needs a worker for a position for a limited period of time, including, but not limited to, a peakload need, which is generally less than 1 year, unless the original temporary agricultural labor certification is extended pursuant to § 655.110.
Title 20 published on 2012-04-01The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to 20 CFR 655 after this date.2013-04-24; vol. 78 # 79 - Wednesday, April 24, 201378 FR 24047 - Wage Methodology for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment H-2B Program, Part 2