For over 20 years, DOL has insisted that it may investigate the whole of an H-1B employer's LCA compliance practices when it finds reasonable cause to believe a violation has been committed based on the allegations contained in an LCA complaint filed by or on behalf of an aggrieved party or organization -- no matter how limited the violation alleged or the 12-month limitations period governing the complaint. In a case of first impression applying standard rules of statutory construction, on December 14, 2015, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled 2-1 that DOL had exceeded its statutory authority by insisting from the outset upon the conduct of an over-broad investigation of the employer's compliance with all of the LCA attestation regulations despite the limited nature of the violation alleged by a single H-1B worker and the limitations period applicable to that alleged violation. As a consequence, the majority vacated the judgment of the district court affirming the final DOL order directing the employer to pay 52 H-1B workers more than $360,000 thousand in back wages plus pre- and post-judgment based on violations discovered because of the unauthorized scope of the investigation from the outset. See Greater Missouri Medical Pro-Care Providers, Inc. v. Perez, http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-8th- Circuit/1720691.html#sthash.g5wXP9RU.dpuf.
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