On Tuesday, December 1, 2020, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California struck down the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor’s (DOL) two October 8, 2020 policies, which limited eligibility and raised minimum salaries based on Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage data for foreign employees on high-skilled work visas.
The new DHS rules had been set to take effect on December 7, 2020, while the DOL changes to salary requirements had already taken effect beginning October 8, 2020.
In its decision to set aside the new rules, the court held that the DHS and DOL failed to justify sidestepping standard procedural steps in enacting their regulatory changes. Specifically, the court found that economic consequences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic do not constitute “good cause” to allow DHS and DOL to circumvent proper regulatory procedure.
The impact of this decision, barring reversal on appeal, is that the new DHS rules will not go into effect and the DOL increase to prevailing wages will likely revert to pre-October figures. However, as of this time, DOL has not yet updated the OES wage data.
You can find our original October 12, 2020 news article, which described the now invalidated provisions in more detail, here.
