What is my prefiling recruitment obligation and when must I place the first ad?
An employer may not place a newspaper advertisement until it has received a prevailing wage (from the State Workforce Agency (SWA) during the transition period or from the Chicago NPC after the transition period). Once an employer has received a prevailing wage it can submit a job order to the SWA serving the area of intended employment and then publish two print advertisements, one of which should be on a Sunday unless no Sunday edition exists (see 20 CFR 655.15(f) for exceptions) during the time the job order is posted with the SWA. The job order cannot be placed more than 120 days prior to the date of need. In addition, if the employer is a party to a collective bargaining agreement governing the job classification that is subject of the H2B application, then the employer must formally contact the local union and maintain copies of 4 correspondence and/or dated logs demonstrating contact with the union, result of such contact, and the number of qualified referrals received from the
