Yesterday, December 1, 2020, a federal judge in California issued an order setting aside two new rules from the Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security, respectively. The first rule from the Department of Labor had gone into effect immediately and dramatically increased the prevailing wages that were required for H-1B and PERM applications. That rule has been set aside by the court as having improperly bypassed the normal notice and comment period required under federal law. It will likely take the Department of Labor a few days to revert back to the lower prevailing wage requirements. It is unclear as to whether the government will appeal this decision, but we do anticipate that even if there is an appeal that the rule will not be in effect while an appeal works its way through the court system. This was a widely expected outcome and will be welcome news to employers and employees alike.
The second rule from the Department of Homeland Security was set to go into effect next week, and it was also set aside by the federal judge in California. The rule would have enacted new restrictions and requirements around H-1B petitions. This outcome was also widely expected and is good news for employers who use the H-1B program.
Please reach out to your Graham Adair attorney if you have any questions and we will continue to provide updates as they become available on this situation.