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    DOL E-Tool Advises on H-1B Compliance Issues

    February 07, 2011, 07:14 PM

    Thinking about hiring a foreign national worker? Heard your employee will need an H-1B? But have no idea what that means to you as an employer? The H-1B non-immigrant classification is for the temporary employment of foreign workers in the U.S. in specialty and professional occupations. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, certain wage and hour standards were implemented for H-1B workers, both to protect the H-1B workers and to protect U.S. workers employed in similar positions from being adversely impacted by the employment of H-1B workers. The Department of Labor (DOL) has an online H-1B advisor in place to walk you through the H-1B requirements from the perspective of the DOLs Wage and Hour Division. The H-1B advisor provides a brief overview of the H-1B program, but the real focus is on making sure employers and employees have the information needed to understand the Wage and Hour obligations which are part of the H-1B process. The DOLs online H-1B advisor walks the employer or employee through the obligations that different employers may have as far as notification of the hiring or termination of an H-1B employee, monetary issues, employment site issues, recordkeeping and administration, and U.S. worker and whistleblower protection. The online H-1B advisor also provides information about enforcement by the DOL. As this online tool is implemented by the DOLs Wage and Hour Division, it does not address the process for participating in the program or the process of transferring an H-1B from one employer to another.