655.206—Determinations of U.S. worker availability and adverse effect on U.S. workers.
(a)
If the OFLC Administrator, in accordance with § 655.205 has determined that the employer has complied with the recruitment assurances, the OFLC Administrator, by 60th day of the recruitment period, or 20 days before the date of need specified in the application, whichever is later, shall grant the temporary labor certification for enough aliens to fill the employer's job opportunities for which U.S. workers are not available. In making this determination the OFLC Administrator shall consider as available for a job opportunity any U.S. worker who has made a firm commitment to work for the employer, including those workers committed by other authorized persons such as farm labor contractors and family heads; such a firm commitment shall be considered to have been made not only by workers who have signed work contracts with the employer, but also by those whom the OFLC Administrator determines are very likely to sign such a work contract. The OFLC Administrator shall also count as available any U.S. worker who has applied to the employer (or on whose behalf an application has been made), but who was rejected by the employer for other than lawful job-related related reasons unless the OFLC Administrator determines that:
(2)
The employer, since the time of the initial determination under § 655.204, has adversely affected U.S. workers by offering to, or agreeing to provide to, alien workers better wages, working conditions, or benefits (or by offering or agreeing to impose on alien workers less obligations and restrictions) than that offered to U.S. workers.
(b)
(1)
Temporary labor certifications shall be considered subject to the conditions and assurances made during the application process. Temporary labor certifications shall be for a limited duration such as for “the 1978 apple harvest season” or “until November 1, 1978”, and they shall never be for more than eleven months. They shall be limited to the employer's specific job opportunities; therefore, they may not be transferred from one employer to another.
(2)
If an association of employers is itself the employer, as defined in § 655.200, certifications shall be made to the association and may be used for any of the job opportunities of its employer members and workers may be transferred among employer members.
(3)
If an association of employers is a joint employer with its employer members, as defined in § 655.200, the certification shall be made jointly to the association and the employer members. In such cases workers may be transferred among the employer members provided the employer members and the association agree in writing to be jointly and severally liable for compliance with the temporary labor certification obligations set forth in this subpart.
(c)
If the OFLC Administrator denies the temporary labor certification in whole or part, the OFLC Administrator shall notify the employer in writing by means normally assuring next-day delivery. The notice shall contain all of the statements required in § 655.204(d). If a timely request is made for an administrative-judicial review by an Administrative Law Judge, the procedures of § 655.212 shall be followed.
(d)
(1)
After a temporary labor certification has been granted, the employer shall continue its efforts to actively recruit U.S. workers until the foreign workers have departed for the employer's place of employment. The employer, however, must keep an active job order on file until the assurance at § 655.203(e) is met.
(2)
The State Workforce Agency (SWA) system shall continue to actively recruit and refer U.S. workers as long as there is an active job order on file.