AAIHR to sue FSBPT over Discrimination Policy

The AAIHR just has announced that it will be pursuing a legal strategy against the FSBPT. The AAIHR has been working with several Attorneys General (AG) offices in strategic states to outline the governance issues and vulnerability of the states based on the FSBPT action. It also has hired litigation counsel, Latham and Watkins, a major litigation firm. The litigation counsel has prepared a Complaint against Georgia and FSBPT on behalf on plaintiffs. The Complaint will be filed soon.

If the lawsuit in Georgia is successful, it likely will end the FSBPT’s discriminatory test administration policy. AG's offices in several states have been contacted and made aware of the AAIHR’s position. Many states have expressed off-the-record concern about the FSBPT’s actions. Because of the deliberate nature of the state’s AG’s offices, the AAIHR has chosen the litigation path.

The AAIHR is looking for additional members to support their action. If you can contribute financially, please contact AAIHR President, Patty David.

MU is an associate member of the AAIHR and has been working with the AAIHR to outline the legal strategy. We have donated both time and funding to the effort.

MU as AILA Faculty

MU’s Chris Musillo is one of the three presenting faculty members for the American Immigration Lawyers Association's November 4, 2010 teleconference on Allied Health Care Immigration. The speakers' topics of discussion include: trends with licensing examinations, visa screening and state licensing for foreign allied health care professionals. Additionally they will address pitfalls and identify effective practices in these areas:

Occupations and Professions Covered: RNs, OTs, PTs
Nonimmigrant Visa Options: TN, H-1B, E-3
Immigrant Visa Options: Schedule A, NIW, PERM
Issues with Visa Screen, Licensing and Timing for Filings
Options in the Absence of Visa Screen
Current Adjudication Trends
Potential Legislative Changes and Strategies

Interested AILA lawyers can participate by contacting AILA. CLE credit is available.

NPTE-i Registration and Filing Fee

The NPTE has just announced that, contrary to prior indications, there will not be any difference in registration fees for the regular NPTE and the NPTE-i. The registration fee remains $370.00. Readers are alerted that registration for the May 2011 NPTE-i begins November 1. It is unclear what the demand for the exam will be and so qualified applicants are encouraged to register.

Weekends Count

One of the sillier assessments made by the US Department of Labor has been its interpretation of a “business day” for purposes of satisfying the 10 day Notice Posting rule. An October 12, 2010 DOL decision puts much more rationality to the interpretation of a “business day” by now allowing an employer to count all of the days that it is open for business.

The Notice Posting rule requires employers to post Notice of a potential Labor Certification Application (including Schedule A Application) at the worksite for 10 business days. The idea behind the law is to give US workers notice of the future Labor Certification, so that they can notify the DOL of any wrongdoing by the employer. Before this decision, the DOL steadfastly had held that a “business day” is a weekday (Monday through Friday) and that federal national holidays would not count as business days.

This interpretation had been particularly irritating for healthcare employers, who routinely are open for business on weekends and holidays. Immigrant visa cases would be needlessly delayed because of this silly interpretation. Occasionally, we would even hear of a case has been denied because of a posting that was done during a minor federal holiday, in spite of the fact that the employer’s hospital remained fully staffed.

The DOL’s Appeal Board, the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) thankfully has ended this nonsense. The BALCA opinion makes the vital point that “the purpose of the Notice of Filing requirement is to ensure that an employer’s employees and other interested persons are notified that it is filing an application for permanent alien labor certification.”

Going forward, employers can satisfy the 10 business day Notice posting rule by placing Notice for ten consecutive days when employees are on the worksite and able to see the Notice of Filing.

November 2010 Visa Bulletin

The Department of State has just released the November 2010 Visa Bulletin, which is the second Visa Bulletin for US Fiscal Year 2011. This Visa Bulletin had small progress in several classifications.

The present processing dates are:

EB-1 – all current
EB-2 – all current, except China (01 JUN 06) and India (08 MAY 06)
EB-3 – all 22 JAN 05, except China (22 NOV 03), India (22 JAN 02), and Mexico (01 MAY 01)

California Board Webcast on FSBPT

by Cindy Unkenholt

California continues to fight the disciminatory actions of the FSBPT. The Physical Therapy Board of California's October 11, 2010 teleconference regarding the FSBPT action on the NPTE will be webcasted live. All interested parties may watch it via the webcast.