Recently, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced new changes in the procedure of seeking review of the perm denial. As of October 27, 2014, the DOL’s Atlanta National Processing Center (ANPC) will no longer automatically forward Requests for Reconsideration of a PERM labor certification denial to Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) for review when the original decision to deny is upheld by the Certifying Officer (CO). Instead, now an employer must affirmatively request review before BALCA within 30 days of the date the request for reconsideration is denied.
Prior to this new policy, employers were only obligated to file the request for reconsideration with DOL and if the CO upheld the denial, the DOL would automatically forward the Request for Reconsideration to BALCA for further review.
Pursuant to the new policy, it is now the employer’s burden to request review before BALCA after/if the CO upholds the decision to deny. Employers and their attorneys must be cognizant of this new obligation and be alert in order to take action to submit a denied PERM labor certification to BALCA within 30 calendar days from the date of the letter from the CO upholding a PERM denial. If an employer or its attorney fails to take action in a timely manner, the denial will automatically become final.