Employers should take note of two important changes announced by the Department of Labor. First, after a 30-day period of public notice and review, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved the revised retention schedule of the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), determining that PERM labor certification applications and supporting documentation may be destroyed pursuant to an approved disposition schedule. The disposition schedule approved by the OFLC permits the retention of records, including hard-copy and electronic documentation, for five years after the issuance of a final determination letter or the occurrence of a final action, subject to an active investigation or a litigation hold.

Second, NARA identified the annual disclosure files housed on the FLC Data Center, as well as the quarterly disclosure data files and OFLC Annual Reports located on the OFLC Performance page, as permanent records. However, Labor Condition Applications (LCA) archived in the LCA Online System were deemed to be beyond the retention period of five years from a date of final determination or final action. As of Oct. 17, 2014, the LCA Online System was decommissioned. In keeping with its records schedule, the OFLC will no longer entertain requests for record searches in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests or provide information regarding duplicate certifications for LCAs processed in the LCA Online System.