Contact: MARY E. PIVEC AND REBA M. MENDOZA; Williams Mullen (North Carolina & Virginia, USA)
In Greater Missouri Medical Pro-Care Providers, Inc., ARB Case No. 12-015, ALJ Case No. 2008-LCA-26 (2014), a divided U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) Administrative Review Board (the “Board”) partially reversed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) and held that the DOL Wage and Hour Administrator has authority to investigate alleged INA violations involving H-1B workers who have not filed an H-1B complaint with the DOL on the basis of a single aggrieved party complaint, but the Administrator is statutorily limited from investigating any H-1B violations that occurred more than twelve (12) months prior to the filing of an aggrieved party complaint, on the basis of such complaint.
Background
On June 22, 2006, Alena Arat (“Arat”), a physical therapist employed by Greater Missouri Medical Pro-Care Providers, Inc. (“Greater Missouri” or the “Company”) under the H-1B program, filed a complaint with the DOL alleging that Greater Missouri had engaged in H-1B violations under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”). On the basis of Arat’s single aggrieved party complaint alone, the DOL initiated and conducted a full investigation of the Company’s H-1B employees, and ultimately determined that Greater Missouri had committed H-1B violations not only regarding Arat, but also regarding its other H-1B employees. Under the INA, the DOL can initiate an investigation into an H-1B employer following, among other things, the receipt of a complaint filed by an aggrieved person or organization. Greater Missouri was ordered to pay over $300,000 in back wages to more than forty H-1B workers, which included sums for violations occurring more than twelve-months prior to Arat’s complaint.
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