Prevailing Wages and LCAs
Obtaining a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) from the U.S. Department of Labor is a necessary precursor for filing an H-1B application and obtaining a Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) is a necessary precursor to filing for an LCA. This process can take up to 2.5 months to complete.
Approximately 8 months prior to the anticipated start date for your foreign national employee, you should begin the prevailing wage and LCA process through Janice Parmer in Employee Services.
For instructions on requesting a LCA, please access the Labor Condition Application packet. Follow the instructions carefully and submit to Janice Parmer in Employee Services. If you have questions regarding this process, please contact her by phone at 404-727-2243 or by email at jparmer@emory.edu.
Tips for completing a successful prevailing wage request:
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If the position you are hiring into is a staff position, please use the standardized descriptions available on HR’s website at http://apps.hr.emory.edu/JobDescriptions/
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Remember that all prevailing wage requests should be submitted with the minimum standard qualifications necessary for the job, not the experience or qualifications of the person you are hiring. One of the steps we are taking for all new prevailing wage requests is to standardize job descriptions and minimum qualifications where possible.
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If your new hire is a post doc in the School of Medicine or an Emory College sciences department, please use the following description:
Job Title : Post Doctoral Fellow
Job Description
Help design and conduct research in [INSERT FIELD OF STUDY] while receiving advanced training from a designated Principal Investigator to enhance professional skills and research independence needed for pursuit of a career. [INSERT ONE OR TWO SENTENCES WHICH DESCRIBE THE RESEARCH TOPICS ON WHICH THE POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW WILL WORK] Designs and evaluates experiments. Develops new ideas that promote current research. Prepares and publishes scientific manuscripts under the direction of the Principal Investigator. May be responsible for operation of specific equipment. Positions are temporary appointments as a research trainee.
Qualifications
A doctoral degree or equivalent [select the appropriate equivalents: Ph.D., M.D., ScD., D.V.M., DDS etc] in [INSERT FIELD OF STUDY REQUIRED].
For departments outside of the School of Medicine and Emory College sciences department, please contact ISSS directly if you need assistance with Post-doc job descriptions for an H-1B petition. -
The ETA 9141 form asks for the shift that an individual anticipates working. Understandably, this is a difficult question to answer for residents and fellows who will work many different shifts over the course of a pay period. On ETA 9141, Section D, Part a., Question 3a, Hourly Work Schedule, enter the complete 24 hour period if your resident or fellow will not have a set schedule. Then, on question 6, Job Duties, add the following sentence: “The physician will work a variable schedule within the 24 hour period which averages “X” amount of hours per week.”
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Only check “yes” on ETA 9141, Section D, Par a., Question 7, if the person travels routinely as a requirement of his job duties. Do not select “yes” if this person only travels for the occasional conference or guest lecture.
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For clinical/resident fellow positions, include the following: On ETA 9141, please answer “yes” to question 8 in page 2 and include the following to question 8a: “This is a training position in which the physician gains further training in a subspecialty. Therefore, the salary offered is not that of a fully-trained physician.”
LCA Notes
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Request your LCA to encompass the entirety of the dates you wish to employ your applicant in H-1B status, up to 3 years.