By: Nachman Phulwani Zimovcak (NPZ) Law Group, P.C. 
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The road to obtaining an approval PERM Labor Certification application can be long and winding. It is, however, a required path many employers must take to hire foreign national workers permanently as many of the most popular employment-based visas require it prior to filing an I-140. The PERM process is said to be in place to protect jobs for U.S. workers as well as prevent things like foreign job candidates from being taken advantage of by offering things like subpar wages. In order to successfully navigate the PERM Labor Certification process, an employer must complete certain required steps. One of the main steps includes undertaking a PERM recruitment period. We will discuss what is actually required during this recruitment period.

What Is the PERM Recruitment Requirement?

A PERM Labor Certification issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) grants an employer the ability to hire a foreign worker for permanent work in the U.S. The PERM Labor certification is obtained from the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the DOL. Before being granted a labor certification, the employer must conduct a PERM recruitment process for the available job position.

The PERM recruitment process is in-place to help USCIS feel confident that there are not sufficient U.S. workers able, willing, qualified, and available to fill the available job position. The specific recruitment efforts required of an employer will largely rest on whether the position is considered to be a professional or non-professional one. Deciding which category a job position falls into will dictate the minimum education level required of an applicant. It will also dictate the minimum recruitment efforts required for an employer to successfully fulfill the recruitment requirement for the PERM process.

For a job opportunity that is considered to be professional, the U.S. employer will need to place a job order with the State Wage Agencies (SWA) in the area of potential employment for 30 days. Furthermore, the employer will need to place two print advertisements on two different Sundays in a newspaper of general circulation. Should the area be rural and lacking a regular Sunday newspaper, the employer may publish the ad in a newspaper with wide circulation. Furthermore, the ad may alternatively be published in a professional journal if the job opportunity requires either an advanced degree or specialized skillset.

In addition to the newspaper publication requirement, the employer must take at least three additional recruitment steps. These steps must be selected from a list of ten (10) options that are provided by the DOL.

The recruitment options are:

• Job fairs
• Employer’s website
• Job search website other than the employer’s
• On-campus recruiting
• Trade or professional organizations/publications
• Private employment firms
• Employee referral programs with incentives
• Campus placement offices
• Local and ethnic newspapers
• Radio and television advertisements

For those job positions that are categorized as non-professional, the recruitment requirements are not as involved. A job order must be placed with the local SWA that serves the area of intended employment for thirty (30) days. Additionally, the employer must place two advertisements for two different Sundays in the newspaper.

Immigration Law Attorneys

If you should have any questions or need more information about the ways in which the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Laws may impact you, your family, your friends or your colleagues, please contact the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Lawyers at the NPZ Law Group – VISASERVE – U.S. Immigration and Nationality Lawyers by e-mailing us at [email protected] or by calling us at 201-670-0006 (x104). You can also visit our Law Firm’s website at www.visaserve.com

By: Dr. Colette Santasieri, Executive Director, NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT

Got Brownfields? There aren’t many municipalities in New Jersey that don’t have these former commercial and industrial properties that are either contaminated or perceived to be contaminated. NJ’s county and local governments and nonprofits now have a free resource to help them overcome the challenges brownfields pose to our communities. The NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT is the first-of-its-kind center that solely focuses on and serves New Jersey.

So why does New Jersey need a brownfield assistance center? Our state was a prominent leader in the industrialization of the United States. Our cities and small towns alike contributed to our industrial productivity. When New Jersey experienced an economic shift and urban exodus beginning in the mid 1950s, industries, factories, warehouses, mills, and rail yards that were once part of our state’s economic and historic fabric either moved out of state or became obsolete. Abandoned industrial sites, as well as soil and water contamination, remained. These sites, otherwise known as brownfields, are a byproduct of our industrial legacy. Additionally, the closed gas stations, dry cleaners, old banks, and other vacant commercial properties are also brownfields.

New Jersey has always been a state with immense opportunities, and while these industrial legacy and commercial sites plague our communities, the redevelopment of brownfields are unique opportunities - to spur economic development, generate jobs, increase property values, reduce sprawl, and develop community needed land uses such as mixed use development, schools, recreational space, housing, and health care facilities, to name a few.
Unfortunately, most local governments do not have the in-house knowledge or expertise to advance these sites through the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment processes. Many communities have either no, or limited resources, including funding. These challenges are compounded by weak real estate markets being experienced in many of our communities. The process of assessing, cleaning up, and redeveloping a brownfield site can be complicated. That is why NJIT created the NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT – to help communities overcome their brownfield hurdles, advancing these properties towards the redevelopment finish line.

The NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT’s team of planners, engineers, environmental scientists, and social scientists brings tools, strategies, resources, partnerships, subject matter experts, and education to brownfields-challenged communities to help transform these sites into community assets. The Center educates and engages communities about brownfield issues, provides free “help desk” assistance and guidance to any county government, local government, and nonprofit, and showcases successes. We partner with state agencies and the private sector to help advance the practice, build community capacity, and guide communities as they navigate the redevelopment process.

In our inaugural year (2020), we engaged all of NJ’s county governments and almost 100 of NJ’s municipalities. We conducted brownfield learning labs, webinars, and virtual workshops for over 700 participants. We launched our Affiliate Membership program (https://www.njit.edu/njbrownfields/become-affiliate-member-today), and was the recipient of CIANJ’s Environmental Leadership Award for Cleaning Up Local Communities/Environmental Education.

For more information about the NJ Brownfields Assistance Center @ NJIT, and to learn about our Affiliate Membership, contact Colette Santasieri, PhD, Executive Director, at [email protected].

For NJ county and local government entities and nonprofits seeking free brownfields technical assistance, contact [email protected].

Visit our website: www.njit.edu/njbrownfields; follow us on Twitter @njbrownfields

By: Dana Fried, JD, LLM, Managing Director, National Tax Services, CohnReznick

For 2020, certain employers whose operations were fully or partially suspended due to a COVID-19-related government order or whose gross receipts for any 2020 quarter were less than 50% of their gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019 were eligible for a fully refundable federal payroll tax credit called the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) for certain wages paid in 2020 Quarter 2 (for ERC purposes, March 13-31, 2020, is considered part of 2020 Q2), Q3, or Q4. However, if the employer or any member of its controlled group received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, the entire controlled group was ineligible for an ERC. 

The December Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 provided for both retroactive applicability of the ERC for 2020 and extending and expanding the ERC for the first two quarters of 2021, and liberalized the ERC requirements for 2021. Significantly, it made it so that  an employer that did not take an ERC for 2020 because it or its controlled member received a PPP loan may now be eligible for ERCs for 2020.

Now, as of the March 11 passage of the American Rescue Plan Act, the ERC is available for all four quarters of 2021. The newer Act extended the availability of the ERC to the third and fourth quarters of 2021, each with its own $10,000-per-employee maximum amount of Qualified Wages/Qualified Health Plan expenses. However, the ERC will be a credit against the Medicare tax for the third and fourth quarters, as opposed to its previously being a credit against the Social Security tax.

The newer Act also added new ERC eligibility opportunities for 2021 Q3 and Q4 for “recovery startup businesses” and “severely financially distressed employers” – read more below – and extended the limitation period on ERC-related assessments from three years to five years from the date of filing the applicable Form 941. 

Definition of ‘eligible employer’

To receive an ERC, an employer must qualify as an “eligible employer.” “Employer” here includes all members of a controlled group under IRC Section 52 (e.g., for a parent and subsidiaries, based on a greater than 50% ownership test) or Section 414(m) (affiliated service group) on an aggregated basis.

“Eligible employer” is defined as:

For 2020, an employer  that:

(1) Fully or partially suspended its operations due to a governmental order limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19 (Employer is eligible to claim the ERC for the suspension period), or
(2) Had gross receipts for any 2020 quarter that were less than 50% of its gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019. (Employer is eligible to claim the ERC for the quarter with the decline in gross receipts and for the next following quarter; eligibility ends for the quarter after the quarter for which gross receipts return to greater than 80% of the gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019 (unless that quarter has its own greater-than-50% decline when compared to the same quarter in 2019).)

For 2021, an employer that:

(1) Fully or partially suspends its operations due to a governmental order limiting commerce, travel, or group meetings due to COVID-19 (employer is eligible to claim ERC for the suspension period), or
(2) Has gross receipts for any such quarter or for the immediately preceding quarter that are less than 80% of its gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019.

Amount of ERC

For 2020 Q2, Q3 and/or Q4 (for Q2, including March 13 - March 31, 2020), an employer can receive a credit equal to 50% of the first $10,000 of Qualified Wages paid per employee in the aggregate for all qualifying quarters. The maximum ERC for all of 2020 would be $5,000 per employee receiving Qualified Wages.

For 2021, an employer can receive 70% of the first $10,000 of Qualified Wages paid per employee in each qualifying quarter. The maximum ERC for each such quarter would be $7,000 per employee receiving Qualified Wages, and the maximum ERC for 2021 would be $28,000 per employee receiving Qualified Wages.

‘Qualified Wages’

What counts as “Qualified Wages” is different for “small” and “large employers.”
For small employers: All wages paid to and Qualified Health Plan Expenses paid for all employees for the applicable quarter.

For large employers: Only wages paid to and Qualified Health Plan Expenses paid for employees for a period or periods that the employees did not perform services for the employer. 

“Qualified Health Plan Expenses” are amounts paid or incurred by an employer to maintain a group health plan that are allocable to Qualified Wages. (This amount includes employer payments plus employee contributions made on a pre-tax basis.) Even if no wages are paid but health plan coverage is provided (e.g., coverage is continued for furloughed employees), the expenses constitute Qualified Health Plan Expenses and as such, are ERC-eligible.

The definitions for “small” and “large” employer are also different for 2020 and 2021:

Small Employer:

For 2020 Q2, Q3 and/or Q4 (for Q2, including March 13 - March 31, 2020): For 2019, averaged 100 or “fewer full-time employees” (average of 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month).

For 2021: For 2019, averaged 500 or fewer full-time employees.

Large Employer:

For 2020 Q2, Q3 and/or Q4 (for Q2, including March 13 - March 31, 2020): For 2019, averaged more than 100 full-time employees.

For 2021: For 2019, averaged more than 500 full-time employees.

The IRS confirmed in early March that the “full-time employee” test does not take part-time employees into consideration, such that the only employees that will be counted are the ones who, with respect to any calendar month in 2019, had an average of at least 30 hours of service per week or had 130 hours of service in the month. Thus, employers with many part-time employees that would have been “large employers” if they were counted, but are “small employers” without them, will be able to claim far greater ERCs as “small employers.”

Additional ERC opportunities for 2021 Q3 and Q4: Recovery startup businesses and severely financially distressed employers

For 2021 Q3 and Q4 only, the American Rescue Plan Act added an alternative eligibility standard if the employer is a “recovery startup business,” which is defined as follows:

• The employer began carrying on any trade or business after Feb. 15, 2020, and
• The employer’s average annual gross receipts (as determined under Section 448(c)(3)) for the up-to-three-year period before the applicable quarter did not exceed $1 million.

Note that the ERC is limited to $50,000 per quarter for an employer that is a recovery startup business.

Also for 2021 Q3 or Q4 only, an employer with any number of full-time employees in 2019 can qualify for “small employer” treatment if it constitutes a “severely financially distressed employer,” which is defined as:

• An employer that has gross receipts for a quarter that are less than 10% of its gross receipts for the same quarter in 2019 (i.e., a gross receipts reduction of more than 90%).

ERC/PPP interaction under the Consolidated Appropriations Act

Under the December Act, even where an employer received/receives a PPP loan, the employer can still claim an ERC with respect to Qualified Wages. However, the same wages cannot be used both to qualify for forgiveness of a PPP loan and as ERC Qualified Wages. (The IRS has stated in a Notice that the amount of Qualified Wages included in “Payroll Costs” reported on a 2020 PPP loan forgiveness application are not 2020 ERC-eligible to the extent they were needed and used to obtain PPP loan forgiveness; see our full article for details.)

3 possible scenarios in which an ERC would now be allowed include:

1) A controlled group member received a PPP loan and another member of the same controlled group that did not receive a PPP loan wishes to claim an ERC.
2) The employer’s Qualified Wages were not provided by the proceeds of a PPP loan.
3) The employer’s Qualified Wages were provided by the proceeds of a forgiven PPP loan for which forgiveness was not obtained with the same wages that would be used as ERC Qualified Wages.

What does CohnReznick think?

The best-case 2020 scenario of a $5,000 ERC per employee, combined with the best-case 2021 scenario of a $28,000 ERC, represents significant assistance to employers that meet the eligibility requirements, either due to suspension of operations or a significant decline in gross receipts. We anticipate further regulatory guidance and we will provide additional information as it becomes available. 

Employers will need to be mindful of the impact of the “controlled group” concept. In that regard, an employer that maintains a trade or business becomes eligible either by any member of its controlled group experiencing a complete or partial suspension of the operations of that trade or business, or on the basis of the gross receipts of the entire controlled group. Access our ERC decision trees below to assist your understanding of your ERC eligibility for 2020 and 2021.

2020 ERC Decision Tree
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2021 ERC Decision Tree