On July 7, 2011, the Department of Labor issued a News Release (www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/whd/WHD20110996.htm) proudly announcing it had secured an Agreement from Prince George's County Public School System to pay $4.2 million in back wages to 1,044 workers, largely Filipino teachers.  To those not immersed in the complex field of H-1B visas, it appears that 1,044 past and present teachers during the past six years were underpaid and the DOL is taking money from a disadvantaged school system to right the wrong.  It is not clear at all whether legal fees and some filing fees must be paid by the employer and is the subject of continued dialogue among the private immigration bar and DOL.  Moreover, regulating H-1B petition legal and filing fees should properly rest with USCIS., not the DOL.

In fact, in a recent unpublished decision by the District of Columbia Bar Counsel, the DC Board of Professional Responsibility found that an attorney who charged the worker the legal fees and recruitment costs of the PERM labor certification process had not violated the rules and dismissed the bar complaint.

The real harm wrought by this agreement is to currently employed teachers, who may be deported as a result of the debarment provision of the agreement, and to the struggling students of Prince George's County who will lose many outstanding teachers and lose $4.2 million to the federal government, which could better be used to educate the students.  Prince George's County is barred for two years from obtaining new H-1B teachers; from extending the H-1B status of currently employed teachers and from fulfilling promises made to many teachers they would be sponsored for green cards.  It would appear the teachers should strongly oppose this agreement.  The averaged payout per teacher is $4,044.  When balanced against the future lost wages from teaching in America and deportation to the Philippines, this payout is nothing short of an insult. 

The ramifications of this settlement agreement are widespread and not fully known.  We would urge DHS to exercise prosecutorial discretion in granting employed teachers permission to remain and work as teachers either in PG County or elsewhere.