DOL Clarifies SESA Duties for Screening Rejected U.S. Workers

At a recent immigration meeting in Chicago, Regional Certifying Officers requested written clarification of State Employment Security Agency (SESA) responsibilities for screening and referring U.S. workers to employers, and for conducting subsequent follow-up with the workers.

The 1994 cost reimbursable grant for Labor Certification and Attestation Programs specifically provides, in part, that SESAs will:

* Screen resume received against advertisements to assure that applicants meet employer requirements and make referrals of qualified applicant to employers, and

* Conduct follow-up in writing with U.S. workers who were referred by the SESA, but were not hired by the employer.

When an applicant's resume indicates that he or she meets the broad range of experience, education and training required for the job, thus raising the reasonable possibility that he or she meets the stated minimum job requirements, the employer has a duty to make a further inquiry, by interview or other means, into whether the applicant meets all of the actual requirements. Gorchev & Gorchev Graphic Design, 89-INA-118 (Nov. 29, 1990) (en banc). Since the SESA will have determined that the U.S. workers meet the broad requirements for the job, the employer is expected to contact all applicants referred and to supply the results of contacts in the employers written recruitment report.

The U.S. worker follow-up that is conducted by the SESA is not intended to verify the employer's statement of the results, but to independently obtain the workers' version of the interview or other contact made by the employer. Therefore, SESAs can begin mailing follow-up letters to U.S. workers within two weeks after resumes have been sent to an employer.

SESAs who are not carrying out these basic responsibilities should be reminded of their obligation to do so under the grant.

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