Washington, D.C. joins a growing group of states requiring employers to include projected salary ranges in job postings and to restrict the use of pay history in setting pay.

On Jan. 12, 2024, the mayor of D.C. signed the Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act, which, among other things, requires private employers, regardless of size, to disclose pay ranges in all job postings and advertisements. Because the D.C. budget is controlled by Congress, the Amendment was sent to Congress for a 30-day review on Jan. 22, 2024, with a projected law date of March 9, 2024. The new law is scheduled to go into effect on June 30, 2024.

The Amendment requires employers to include in job postings the minimum and maximum projected salary or hourly wage for the position. Employers not only must disclose the projected salary in public job postings, but they also must do so in any internal job postings of the position. The Amendment also requires employers to disclose to prospective employees the existence of other benefits (such as healthcare or bonuses) before the first interview.

The Amendment prohibits employers from screening job applicants based on wage history. The Amendment does not specifically address remote positions.

Employers will be required to post a notice in the workplace notifying employees of their rights under this law. The notice must be posted in a conspicuous place in at least one location where employees congregate.

The new requirements under the Amendment will also affect the PERM labor certification process for employers sponsoring foreign nationals for “green cards.” Employers can prepare for these changes by:

  • Reviewing and modifying, as needed, all recruitment postings (both external and internal) to ensure these postings include the required salary ranges.
  • Reviewing internal interviewing protocols to ensure disclosure of benefit information upon request or before conducting a screening interview (whether by phone or in person) with an applicant for the PERM position.
  • Reviewing internal interviewing protocols to ensure no historical pay information is requested from prospective employees or from their prior employers. Indeed, this would not even be relevant because the applicant for the PERM position will know the salary range.
  • Training employees involved in the PERM process on the benefit disclosure requirements and the salary history restrictions.

The law aims to increase pay equity and to address historical wage gaps. While the law does not create a private right of action for employees, the Amendment provides the attorney general the authority to investigate violations and to bring civil actions against an employer or seek remedies on behalf of individuals or the public. Employers found to have violated the law may be subject to civil fines ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 per occurrence.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist in navigating the best strategy for PERM processes in light of the many new pay transparency laws.

USCIS has announced that it is extending the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) re-registration periods for El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan from 60 days to the end of the full 18-month extension period.

The dates are as follows:

  • El Salvador         March 9, 2025
  • Haiti                    August 3, 2024
  • Honduras           July 5, 2025
  • Nepal                  June 24, 2025
  • Nicaragua           July 5, 2025
  • Sudan                 April 19, 2025

TPS is a temporary benefit that allows individuals to remain lawfully in the United States without being subject to detention due to lack of status. The secretary of Homeland Security “may designate a foreign country for TPS due to conditions in the country that temporarily prevent the country’s nationals from returning safely, or in certain circumstances, where the country is unable to handle the return of its nationals adequately.”

This announcement means that current TPS beneficiaries who have not yet re-registered for TPS or who have not yet applied to renew their Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) may do so until the end of the current TPS period.

This re-registration period extension does not change any of the previously announced eligibility requirements.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist you with any questions about TPS, TPS EAD extensions, or how to complete Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verifications.

Congress has approved an additional 64,716 H-2B visas for fiscal year 2024, supplementing the 66,000 available annually. As in prior years, restrictions will apply. A temporary final rule has been published in the Federal Register setting out the procedures involved.

H-2B visas for temporary, seasonal nonagricultural workers are used primarily for jobs in tourism and hospitality, landscaping and construction, and food processing. Once the annually available 66,000 visas run out, employers are forced to continue operations without sufficient number of workers. The initial allocation of H-2B visas for FY 2024 ran out on October 11, 2023, just days after USCIS began accepting applications.

The supplemental visas are available to employers who can provide evidence they are suffering or will suffer irreparable harm if they are unable to supplement their permanent staff with temporary H-2B workers. The additional visas are going to be distributed in several allocations throughout the year.   

The plan is to have four allocations:

  • First half of FY 2024 (October 1 – March 31): 20,716 for returning workers with start dates on or before March 31, 2024 (regardless of nationality)
  • Early second half of FY 2024 (April 1 – May 14): 19,000 for returning workers with start dates from April 1, 2024, to May 14, 2024 (regardless of nationality)
  • Late second half of FY 2024: 5,000 for returning workers with start dates from May 15, 2024, to September 30, 2024 (regardless of nationality)
  • For the entirety of FY 2024: 20,000 visas reserved for nationals of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti without regard to whether they are returning workers

When adjudicating cases for the additional visas, the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor have indicated they will also consider the impact on U.S. workers and make every effort to protect the H-2B workers from exploitation through rulemaking.

Individuals from 89 countries are eligible to apply for H-2B visas. This year, Bolivia was added to the list.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist in navigating the H-2B process, which involves not only capturing one of the limited number of visas available, but also following complex rules regarding filing dates, labor market tests, visa applications, and proving irreparable harm.

Diversity Visa (DV) Electronic Registration for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 opens at noon ET on October 4, 2023, and closes at noon ET on November 7, 2023. There will be 55,000 Diversity Visas available for FY 2025.

There is no cost to register, but, if selected, applicants must pay the visa application or I-485 Adjustment of Status fees. Filing more than one application will lead to disqualification for the program.

Individuals born in certain countries are not eligible to apply because more than 50,000 nationals of those countries have immigrated to the United States in the past five years. The list of ineligible countries includes:

Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, including Hong Kong, SAR (natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela and Vietnam.

Except for the United Kingdom, the “ineligible” list is the same as it was last year. This year, natives of the United Kingdom and its dependent territories are eligible.

Eligibility requirements and application instructions are on the Diversity Lottery website. Only the primary applicant (not dependents) must meet the eligibility requirements. Beyond nationality, the primary applicant must have:

  • At least a high school diploma or its equivalent; or
  • Two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.

The Department of State describes how to confirm eligibility on its website.

Interested applicants should apply early and not wait until the last week, when heavy demand could lead to website delays. Applicants must apply online. No late or paper entries are accepted. Non-U.S. residents seeking to obtain a green card who are otherwise eligible may apply even if they are living abroad.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to answer questions about the Diversity Lottery process.

On Equal Pay Day, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) introduced three bills, including a national pay transparency bill, that she believes would help to close the pay gap between men and women.

She chose Equal Pay Day for the introduction of these bills because it marks the additional days women must work to earn what men earned the prior year.

One of the bills, the Salary Transparency Act, amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, would require all U.S. employers to provide the salary range for jobs in all advertisements. The salary range would need to include wages and other forms of compensation the employer anticipates offering the successful candidate for the job opportunity. The act includes civil penalties ranging from $5,000 for a first violation, increased by an additional $1,000 for each subsequent violation, not to exceed $10,000, plus liability to each job applicant for damages and reasonable attorneys’ fees. The bill also includes a private right of action.

This bill comes at a time when more states are adopting their own pay transparency laws, many of which have different requirements. Due to the difficulty of conforming to these various  laws, “some large corporations including Airbnb Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have begun to include pay information in all US job ads, which they’ve said also helps attract and retain employees.” Indeed, some employers, when doing PERM Labor Certification cases for sponsored visa employees, are choosing to comply with the most restrictive state law in their footprint to avoid possible state law violations, while balancing different geographic pay differentials, especially when many jobs can be worked remotely from anywhere within the United States. In that regard, federal legislation may come as a relief for some multi-state employers, particularly if it helps slow the wave of new and varied state requirements, which make compliance more difficult.

As compliance with a patchwork of state laws becomes more and more burdensome, employers will have to decide how risk-averse they are.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist in strategizing on how to comply with pay transparency laws in the employment and immigration arenas.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to an en banc rehearing in Ramos v. Mayorkas, potentially further extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for tens of thousands of individuals with current status from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan who have been in limbo waiting on a final ruling in the this case.

By way of background, in 2018, a federal district court in California issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Trump Administration from terminating TPS status for El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan. Soon thereafter, TPS beneficiaries from Honduras and Nepal were also given injunctive relief.

In 2020, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit set aside the district court ruling, but the termination did not go into effect because the government agreed not to terminate status while the TPS plaintiffs sought a rehearing.

In 2021, the Biden Administration entered negotiations with the TPS plaintiffs about how to achieve some sort of permanent status. The Ramos case was paused during these negotiations, which lasted until October 2022 when there was an impasse. The government agreed that TPS protection would continue, and work authorization would be extended, for all those countries involved for at least one year if the program was terminated through litigation or until June 20, 2024 – whichever was later. The en banc rehearing is the next (but not necessarily the last) step in this process.

The Biden Administration continues defending the Trump Administration’s determination ending TPS for the designated countries based upon the argument that the courts cannot substitute its determination in this case. However, to the extent the Biden Administration has been open to granting TPS to other countries, including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ukraine and Venezuela, and has extended and redesignated TPS for Burma, Haiti, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria, it may be open to resolving this matter in a way more favorable to the class. Under the most recent regulations, the over 100,000 beneficiaries from El Salvador, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Honduras will remain subject to the government’s decision to extend their TPS to June 20, 2024, or will have their status extended for at least one year after the program is terminated through litigation.

Jackson Lewis attorneys will provide updates as the rehearing process moves forward.

The H-1B cap season for Fiscal Year 2024 is fast approaching.  USCIS announced on January 27th that cap registration begins on March 1st. Employers should assess their hiring needs and determine if they will sponsor foreign workers for H-1B classification this year. Now is the time to begin preparing.

The H-1B visa category is for foreign workers who will perform services in a specialty occupation. Essentially, a specialty occupation is one that requires at least a bachelor’s degree in a field relevant to the job offered. Examples of H-1B occupations include fields in architecture, science, engineering, medicine and health, accounting, and law.

In addition, the foreign worker must possess the requisite education credentials for the specialty occupation. H-1B beneficiaries may include both recent foreign student graduates present in the United States in F-1 student status and any other foreign professional whether currently in the United States or abroad.

There is a statutory cap of 65,000 H-1B visas (regular cap), with an additional 20,000 visas for foreign professionals with an advanced degree from a U.S. academic institution (master’s cap). In recent years, the demand for H-1B visas has far exceeded the number of visas available in the annual quota:

In 2020, USCIS implemented an electronic registration system for the H-1B cap to manage the increasing demand for H-1B visas. The electronic registration system alleviates the burden of preparing and filing a full H-1B petition before knowing if a visa is available in the quota. Rather than file a full H-1B petition, employers electronically register foreign workers in the H-1B cap by providing basic information and paying a registration fee. While registration requires only basic information, the employer should know in advance if the case, if selected, would be approvable. In other words, whether the employee and the position meet the specialty occupation and wage requirements for H-1B classification. In the past couple of years, the registration period was open for at least 14 days during the month of March.

If USCIS receives more registrations than there are H-1B visa numbers available, USCIS conducts a random lottery to select the registrants who may be the beneficiary of an H-1B petition. Those selected are notified and provided instructions on where and when to file the H-1B petition. The employer then may file an H-1B petition for each selected worker. The earliest possible date to request H-1B status in the petition is October 1, 2023, which is the start of federal Fiscal Year 2024.

USCIS should soon announce the H-1B electronic registration process for Fiscal Year 2024. In preparation of the upcoming H-1B cap filing season, interested employers should immediately evaluate and identify potential candidates for H-1B classification and assemble proposed job descriptions and salary offerings. Taking these preliminary steps now will permit timely review of each prospective worker’s H-1B eligibility and ensure electronic registration within the designated period.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist in navigating the upcoming H-1B cap season and defining strategic options to sponsor foreign workers.


The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti will be extended and redesignated for 18 months from February 4, 2023, until August 3, 2024.

TPS for Haiti had been extended five times, until January 22, 2018, due to economic, security, political, health care, and humanitarian crises. DHS announced the termination of TPS for Haiti effective July 22, 2019, but that announcement was stayed by federal injunction.  As a result, the existing TPS designation for Haitians remains in effect. In 2021, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas newly designated Haiti for TPS effective August 3, 2021, through February 3, 2023.

The most recent extension and redesignation until August 3, 2024, means that:

  • Haitians already in TPS that expires on February 3, 2023, must apply for an extension of their status and their work authorization (EADs) during the 60-day re-registration period beginning January 26, 2023, and running until March 27, 2023.
  • Even those Haitians whose TPS and EADs have been extended until June 30, 2024, due to the pending litigation should re-register during the 60-day re-registration period and apply for EADs to ensure their status and work authorization continue until August 3, 2024.
  • Those with TPS EADs expiring on February 3, 2023, are eligible for an automatic extension until February 3, 2024, while they await adjudication of their new extension applications.
  • Those with pending re-registration and employment authorization applications need not re-apply. When their cases are adjudicated, if approved, they will be extended until August 3, 2024.
  • Haitians who are not currently in TPS may make an initial application under the redesignation if they have continuously resided in the United States since November 6, 2022, can show they have been continuously physically present in the United States since February 3, 2024, and meet the other general eligibility requirements.

Reportedly, approximately 101,000 Haitians are in the United States in TPS and more than 50,000 applications from Haitians are pending with USCIS. Due to the redesignation, another 110,000 Haitians may become newly eligible for TPS.

As a reminder, Haitians who received their initial TPS designation in 2011 and had their statuses extended by DHS until June 30, 2024, based on the pending litigation also had their EADs extended until that date. That extension remains in effect and details on how to determine whether that extension applies were posted in the Federal Register on November 16, 2022.

While Haitians who are living abroad are not eligible for TPS, they may apply for humanitarian parole for up to two years if they have a financial sponsor.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist regarding the re-registration process and provide advice about when Form I-9, Employment Verification Authorization, reverification is required and how to complete the forms.

As of January 6, 2023, Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans and their immediate family members may be eligible for safe passage into the United States for up to two years as parolees if they have a financial supporter. This program is like the Uniting for Ukraine program. Organizations, including companies, can provide the financial support and, upon admission, the parolees may apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs).

Proposed beneficiaries cannot apply directly. Supporters must start the process.

The first step is for the supporter to submit a Form I-134A, Online Request to be Supporter and Declaration of Financial Support, including documentation proving they are able to financially support the beneficiaries they are agreeing to support. Only after that application is reviewed and adjudicated will USCIS notify the proposed beneficiary and provide instructions about how to proceed. The beneficiary will be told how to submit biographic information online and, if approved, will eventually receive travel instructions. They will be told to arrange to fly directly to their destination in the United States. Upon arrival at a U.S. port of entry, the beneficiary will be vetted again before being paroled into the country. Beneficiaries should not attempt to enter through a land port of entry as that will likely lead to a denial.

Financial supporters must be U.S. citizens or nationals, legal permanent residents (“green card holders”), conditional permanent residents, non-immigrants in lawful status, asylees, refugees, parolees, and beneficiaries of TPS, DACA or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). While an individual must submit the Form I-134A, they can do so in association with or on behalf of an organization, business, or other entity that will provide some or all the support. Individuals who file the form on behalf of an organization must submit a letter of commitment or other documentation from an officer or other credible representative of the organization or business describing the monetary or other types of support they will provide. Beyond monetary support, other forms of support can include housing, basic necessities, and transportation. When an individual is submitting the form on behalf of an organization that will be providing the necessary level of support, the individual need not submit their own financial information.

Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The grant of parole is discretionary, based on urgent humanitarian reasons or if the applicants would provide a significant public benefit to the United States.

To be eligible, proposed beneficiaries must:

  • Have a financial supporter in the United States;
  • Undergo robust security screening;
  • Have a passport valid for international travel;
  • Meet vaccination requirements;
  • Provide their own transportation to the United States, if approved for travel;
  • Meet other general requirements; and
  • Warrant an exercise of discretion.

If you have questions about supporting a national from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, or Venezuela or about the Uniting for Ukraine program, please reach out to your Jackson Lewis attorney.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided guidance on the additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas available for fiscal year 2023.

H-2B visas allow employers to bring workers to the United States to perform temporary nonagricultural seasonal work. The statute limits the total number of H-2B visas per year to 66,000. In recent years, there has been more demand than visas available. In October 2022, DHS announced that an additional 64,716 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas would be available for fiscal year 2023. Now, DHS is setting out exactly for whom and when those visas will be available during the fiscal year.

Details for the additional allocation include:

  • 20,000 of the additional visas are reserved for nationals from El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras.
    • Employers requesting start dates in the first half of FY 2023 may file petitions immediately after December 15, 2022.
      • Premium processing is not available until January 3, 2023.
    • Employers requesting start dates in the second half of FY 2023 may file no earlier than 15 days after the second half statutory cap is met. USCIS will identify this date in a public announcement.
  • 18,216 additional visas are immediately available for returning workers from any eligible country.
    • These petitions must request a start date on or before March 31, 2023.
      • Premium processing is not available until January 3, 2023.
  • 16,500 additional visas are available for returning workers from any eligible country.
    • These petitions must request a start date from April 1, 2023, to May 14, 2023.
    • Petitions may be filed no earlier than 15 days after the second half of the statutory cap is met. USCIS will identify this date in a public announcement.
  • 10,000 additional visas are available for returning workers from any eligible country.
    • These petitions must request a start date from May 15, 2023, to September 30, 2023.
    • Petitions may be filed no earlier than 45 days after the second half statutory cap is reached. USCIS will identify this date in a public announcement.

All petitions filed under the additional allocation must be filed at the California Service Center. Among other requirements, all employers requesting visas under the additional allocation must attest:

  • That they are suffering or will suffer impending irreparable harm without the ability to employ all the H-2B workers requested on the petition; and
  • That employing the H-2B workers will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers.

Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to assist in strategizing and filing these petitions.