DOL on H-1B Program/Client Site Strikes

Dear [name omitted]:

This is in response to your request of July 26, 1994 for an advisory opinion under the H-1B program for nonimmigrant professionals in specialty occupations. Specifically, you request guidance concerning the strike or lockout labor condition statement and its relation to H-1B nonimmigrants working at a client site where a strike may soon occur.

The regulations governing this matter are quite clear and unambiguous. Section ____.730(g)(1) provides that:

The third labor condition statement is satisfied when the employer signs the labor condition application attesting that, as of the date the application is filed, it is not involved in a strike, lockout, or work stoppage in the course of a labor dispute in the occupational classification in the area of intended employment. Labor disputes for the purpose of this paragraph (g) relate only to those disputes involving employees of the employer working at the place of employment in the occupational classification named in the labor condition application.

"Place of employment" is defined at ' ____.715 as "the worksite or physical location where the work is performed." The no strike or lockout attestation statement related only to the employer's own employees who are employed in the same occupational classification as the H-1B nonimmigrant(s) at that place of employment. Therefore, your client could safely attest on subsequent labor condition applications that no strike or lockout exists on the date of filing as long as none of the employer's own employees in the same occupation at the same work location were involved therein. See also Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations at 8 CFR 214.2(h)(17) for further guidance regarding the effect of a strike or lockout in general on the H-1B non- immigrant's employment.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Flora T. Richardson

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