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Hearing office reverses denial order
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Posted on Apr 05 2005
The Department of Labor Hearing Office has reversed the denial of a late application filed by a local employer after finding that the department’s own mistake had led to the delayed submission.
Hearing officer Jerry Cody instructed the Division of Labor to immediately resume processing the renewal application filed by employer Ambrosio Ogumoro to hire nonresident worker Luo Jia Yang.
Ogumoro filed the application to renew Luo’s contract on Sept. 24, 2004, or 84 days after Luo’s permit expired. The Division of Labor denied the application on the grounds that it was untimely filed.
Luo testified that he had sought transfer to a new employer, but that he did not realize what deadline applied in his case because he had never received his prior permit.
Labor representatives attending the hearing confirmed that, although Ogumoro had complied with a deficiency in March 2004, the department never issued a permit to Luo for the employment period ending July 2, 2004.
In about mid-July 2004, the department transferred Luo’s permit application to the Division of Immigration for filing purposes only, but Immigration did not issue a permit because the expiration date had already passed.
The department also admitted that it never notified either the employer or the employee that Luo’s permit had expired on July 2, 2004.
After looking for a number of weeks and being misled by one potential employer, Luo returned to Ogumoro, who agreed to renew his employment in a new job classification.
“The evidence at this hearing established that this untimely filing was not the fault of either the employer or employee. Rather there was legitimate confusion as to what was the proper deadline for the expiration of this worker’s prior permit. Such confusion was caused by the department’s failure to notify the parties and was not fault of the appellants,” Cody said.
