TEN_20-20.pdf

ETA Advisory File Text

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT NOTICE NO. 20-20 DATE May 26 2021 TO STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS ALL AMERICAN JOB CENTER PROGRAMS FROM SUZAN G. LEVINE Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary SUBJECT American Job Center Role in Connecting U.S. Job Seekers to Job Opportunities Available with Employers Seeking to Employ H-2B Nonimmigrant Foreign Workers in the Second Half of Fiscal Year FY 2021 1.Purpose. To ensure State Workforce Agencies SWA are aware that employers seeking to hire foreign workers for temporary employment under a supplemental H-2B visa cap in FY 2021 must contact a comprehensive American Job Center AJC for assistance in recruiting U.S. workers for their job opportunities. 2.Action Requested. The Department of Labor DOL requests that SWA staff responsible for administering foreign labor certification activities and AJCs utilize their established one-stop partner networks and recruitment practices to help connect job seekers with job opportunities from employers seeking to employ foreign workers on supplemental H-2B visas. 3.Summary and Background. a.Summary This Training and Employment Notice explains the role of AJCs in the recruitment of U.S. workers for temporary or seasonal job opportunities available with employers seeking to hire foreign workers on supplemental H-2B visas made available by a Temporary Final Rule TFR jointly published by DOL and the Department of Homeland Security DHS on May 25 2021. b.Background In response to strong demand for H-2B visas Congress authorized a supplemental H-2B visa allocation in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 Pub. L. 116-260 FY 2021 appropriation which permits the Secretary of Homeland Security after consultation with the Secretary of Labor to increase the number of H-2B visas available to U.S. employers upon the determination that the needs of American businesses cannot be satisfied in FY 2021 with U.S. workers who are willing qualified and able to perform temporary nonagricultural labor. Accordingly DOL and DHS jointly published a TFR to implement a supplemental visa allocation of 22 000 H-2B visas under the authority contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021. The TFR adds a provision at 20 CFR 655.64 a 5 ii requiring certain employers to contact by email or other electronic means the nearest AJC s offering business services in the geographic area where work will commence to request staff assistance to advertise EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WASHINGTON D.C. 20210 2 and recruit U.S. workers for the job opportunity. Employers must contact a comprehensive center AJC offering the full range of employment and business services. Because many AJCs continue to offer virtual or remote services due to the COVID-19 pandemic the TFR requires employers to utilize electronic methods disclosed for the nearest AJC to meet the contact and disclosure requirements in this rule. When contacting the AJC s the employers must provide staff with the job order number or if the job order number is unavailable a copy of the job order placed on the SWA job listing system. AJCs can be located at the DOL-sponsored website https www.careeronestop.org LocalHelp local-help.aspx. 4.AJC Role and Responsibilities. After locating the nearest comprehensive AJC the employer will contact the AJC using an electronic method and will provide the AJC a job order identification number or copy of the job order which contains information necessary to apprise U.S. job seekers of the job opportunity. Once contacted by the employer the AJC should make every effort to broadly disseminate information about the job vacancies through the regional one-stop partner network as well as any other organizations including to those organizations serving disadvantaged populations where the AJC believes potentially qualified U.S. workers would make themselves available for the employer s job opportunity These recruitment activities may include for example leveraging the state unemployment insurance program to disseminate knowledge of the job opportunity to unemployed workers seeking employment contacting community-based organizations in the geographic area providing employment and training services and who serve potentially qualified workers and circulating a copy of the job order to appropriate union offices or hiring halls consistent with 20 CFR 655.33 b 5 when the job opportunity is in an occupation or industry that is traditionally or customarily unionized. Where appropriate the AJCs should refer or direct interested U.S. workers to apply directly with the SWAs if the workers require assistance applying for the job opportunity. 5. Inquiries. Please direct questions to the appropriate ETA regional office. 6.References. a.Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021 Pub. L. 116-260 b.Exercise of Time-Limited Authority to Increase the Fiscal Year 2021 Numerical Limitation for the H-2B Temporary Nonagricultural Worker Program and Portability Flexibility for H-2B Workers Seeking to Change Employers Temporary Final Rule published at 86 FR 28198 May 25 2021 . 7.Attachments. Not applicable.