Connecting H-2B Employers with Local Job Seekers
Friday, August 27, 2021
As a staff member of a local comprehensive Job Center, we wanted to let you know what instructions employers have received if they are looking to participate in the H-2B Program and what is expected of you as you serve them.
In short, when an employer comes to a Job Center as a requirement of the H-2B Program, you should provide the same services you do to any employer.
DOL issued a Training and Employment Notice (TEN 20-20) on May 26, 2021 regarding a requirement that all employers looking to hire workers through the H-2B visa program contact their local comprehensive Job Center to seek assistance to find local workers. The Job Center will provide the same services they do all employers to assist in finding talent. This is not a change in how we do business, but staff may hear employers reference the H-2B program.
Below is some information about H-2B and what is listed in the TEN 20-20 for your reference.
- Foreign Labor program administered by DOL
- Employers who demonstrate that they cannot find enough local workers may apply to bring in foreign workers on a H-2B visa
- The work is seasonal and non-agricultural (for example: lifeguard in the Dells over the summer)
- The employer must post a job order on JobCenterofWisconsin.com to find local workers – this is part of the current H-2B process
Requirements Listed in TEN 20-20
- Certain employers seeking workers on an H-2B visa must contact the nearest AJC(s) {Job Center} offering business services in the geographic area where work will commence to request staff assistance to advertise and recruit U.S. workers for the job opportunity.
- Employers must contact a “comprehensive center” AJC {Job Center} offering the full range of employment and business services.
- The employer will contact the AJC {Job Center} using an electronic method and will provide the AJC {Job Center} a job order identification number or copy of the job order
- Once contacted by the employer, the AJC {Job Center} should make every effort to broadly disseminate information about the job vacancies through the regional one-stop partner network as well as any other organizations, including to those organizations serving disadvantaged populations, where the AJC {Job Center} believes potentially qualified U.S. workers would make themselves available for the employer’s job opportunity.
Please reach out to your local Bureau of Job Service Director if you have any additional questions.
Thank you,
WIOA Integrated Service Delivery Communications Team
WIOAComms@dwd.wisconsin.gov
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