Audit PERM Recruitment, Layoffs, Records This Week

If you have a PERM case in motion, the deadline is this week. By the end of August 2026, DOL was still working through PERM cases submitted in November 2025 or earlier, and the mean processing period had dropped to 336 calendar days from 372 in July. The proposal reached the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on September 14 and is undergoing regulatory review. The Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration is opening rulemaking to modernize PERM, the permanent labor certification process, for employers that want to hire foreign workers permanently. The workaround is a low-risk file check: inventory recruitment, layoff exposure, and records before the next filing decision.

The audit does not change a filing; it makes the file easier to defend. A clean file keeps the case moving, and a weak file gets fixed before it becomes a problem.

The pending rule is not the only trigger. A weak file can create a problem under the current program. The audit helps you see that gap before it becomes a filing issue in the next case.

The review window is the real deadline

DOL listed the PERM rule in its July 2026 regulatory agenda. As of September 16, the rule was still a proposal, and OIRA review was pending. The sequence matters because the direction is already visible, even though the final text is not. A file that looks complete today can become a problem when the review clock slows.

The proposal names the files to check

The rule would raise the floor for recruiting qualified U.S. workers. The direction also includes tighter protections when layoffs affect U.S. workers, and a stronger push for employers to meet non-discriminatory recruitment, hiring, and record-retention obligations. Its title is Modernizing the Labor Market Test and Improving Protections for U.S. Workers in the PERM Immigrant Visa Program. Those targets can be checked against the files you already keep. None of them requires you to guess.

Start with recruitment. If your recruitment steps are scattered across email, spreadsheets, and vendor notes, the audit should surface that now. Missing steps are easier to document before a filing decision than after counsel asks for them.

Then check layoffs. For sponsored employees, counsel should see the exposure before a reduction becomes a PERM issue. Layoff decisions can create compliance exposure before the final rule is published.

Finally, check records. A missing retention log is easier to fix this week than after the final rule is published. The audit should show whether the file can support the recruitment and hiring steps it claims.

The three-step audit is doable this week

The list is short because the audit should be doable now. Each item is testable in a minute.

• Inventory current recruitment and record-keeping against the proposal's stated changes: pull an active or recently filed PERM case file and confirm the recruitment steps and retention records are present and legible.
• Brief counsel on layoff-safeguard exposure for sponsored employees in roles affected by recent or planned reductions, and note whether layoff-safeguard documentation is available.
• Track the OIRA review and audit status with a named owner and a weekly check.

Missing files can turn a routine case into a compliance problem, so the first item pulls them out early. Layoff exposure can appear before a reduction becomes a PERM issue, so the second item flags it for counsel. The tracker keeps the review status visible instead of buried in a status page.

Do not rewrite the job description now. Do not restart recruitment for a pending case unless counsel says so. Keep the existing file defensible.

Give counsel a short factual summary: the case, the role, the recruitment steps, the retention records, and any layoff exposure. Keep the summary plain. Send it while the file is open. If counsel asks for a missing item, note the gap and the owner who will fix it.