February 28, 2001 --The new faxback system for processing Labor Condition Applications ("LCA's"), implemented by the Department of Labor ("DOL") upon issuance of interim final regulations governing the filing and maintenance of LCA's, is experiencing slowdowns because of system bugs. The problems in the system stem from both internal technical bugs, and from user errors. DOL is working hard to correct the first set of problems, and has decided to institute human verification of each LCA until the problems are corrected. This is causing a further slowdown in the processing of LCA's.

Since the introduction of the new LCA on January 19, DOL has received roughly 29,000 LCAs (including 3,000 mailed-in filings). Roughly 10,000 have been processed, but many of these 10,000 were improperly rejected (see below). DOL continues to receive LCAs at a rate of 2,000 per day. However, some progress has been made and roughly 1800 certified LCAs made their way out of Philadelphia earlier this week.

Below, we describe some of the problems users have been experiencing. In the interim period, INS has indicated a willingness to accept an H-1B petition with proof of filing of an LCA, rather than a certified LCA.

System "Bugs"

The bugs in the Faxback System include oversensitivity on the part of the Optical Character Reader. This will often result in the Reader sensing that the "Yes" and "No" bubbles on the LCA have BOTH been filled in, when in fact only one has been filled in. The system is being changed so that this problem should disappear. In addition, there is a bug on the "output" side that is causing LCAs to be sent with several blank pages and then a certification at the end. There have been several improper denials and there are at least 300 of these that DOL is currently working on reversing to approvals.

Form Preparation Glitches

These are errors that users have been making unwittingly. The central problem is the "pagelink" error. DOL has received a huge volume of LCAs for which it cannot match up all the pages. This is caused by problematic pagelink numbers. At the bottom left-hand side of the LCA form, on each page, there is a series of boxes for a pagelink number. DOL's form filler program, when used properly, should automatically generate a random six digit pagelink number, and this number should be the same on all three pages. Users have been generating the form, then going back into the form filler system to make a change on one of the pages, printing out only the changed page. This causes inconsistent pagelink numbers on the pages of the same LCA, resulting in an inability on the part of DOL to match the pages of the LCA and fax it back to the user.

Other users have been filing multiple LCAs for one company using the same signature page and changing the information on the first two pages to accommodate different occupations or geographic locations. Again, this results in the LCA having different pagelink numbers. Apart from the processing problems, there may be Wage and Hour liability for this practice, as the employer has actually only signed one LCA and one set of attestations.

Another pagelink problem has arisen for users who are going to the DOL website and simply printing off the form and filling it out manually. Users who are doing this may notice that the system is automatically putting in a specific pagelink number, 313775. This is the default pagelink number and DOL has received some 1500 LCAs with this same pagelink number. It will be impossible to match up the pages of an LCA if it has this default number as the pagelink number. A version of the LCA, with a blank pagelink space, that you can print and fill in with your own random number is now posted on AILA InfoNet, and the DOL will post one on its website. Users who have sent in LCA's on which the pagelink number is the default number should consider these LCA's lost and refile with different, random pagelink numbers. Users who need to print the LCA form from the DOL website and then fill it in using a typewriter or manually, should be sure to hit the tab key before printing the form out. This should remove the default pagelink number and should insert a random pagelink number. The pagelink number may also be changed by using white-out and inserting a new pagelink number.

Private Vendor Forms

LCA forms generated by forms software providers have proved to be somewhat unreliable. There have been problems in how some vendors' forms have been copied and these problems have resulted in rejections and lost LCAs.