United States Department of Labor ETA - Foreign Labor Certification Website Update

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September 24, 2013. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) updates its records retention schedule to include case management systems and electronic records.

 

On July 8, 2013, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved OFLC's revised record retention schedule following a 30-day period of public notice and review. During its review and approval process, NARA determined employer application files and supporting documentation, whether retained in paper or electronic form, to be temporary records and subject to destruction in accordance with an approved disposition schedule. The OFLC approved disposition schedule authorizes retention of records for a period of 5 years following the date a final determination letter is issued, subject to an active investigation or litigation hold. Employer applications that are part of an active investigation or pending litigation are exempted from the approved disposition schedule and will be retained until the investigation and/or litigation matters are closed. This approved disposition schedule limits retention of both paper and electronic records to a 5-year period. Records retained by the OFLC beyond the 5-year period will be destroyed on at least an annual schedule or as determined by the OFLC.

Furthermore, this approved disposition schedule authorizes the destruction of case management systems and software as they become obsolete and are no longer needed to administer the program(s). For example, the Paradox database, formerly used by the ETA Regional Offices, and which is no longer needed in the administration of the Permanent Program, will be destroyed by September 26, 2013. This database contains texts of information related to employer applications filed in 2002 or earlier where the records have been destroyed. The text is called screenshots. As the OFLC implements its approved disposition schedule, we will provide notice to the public identifying the records and, where applicable, the associating case management systems and software being destroyed.

The records NARA identified as permanent records are the annual disclosure data files currently located on the FLC Data Center at http://www.flcdatacenter.com; as well as the quarterly disclosure data files and the OFLC Annual Reports located on the OFLC Performance page at http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm.