The Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement (“DLSE”), will be launching a new application platform on May 10, 2021.
If you have an existing application pending in the old system then you will be permitted to finish the process in the old system.
For those New Applicants applying for the first time the new FLC numbers are different than current numbers.
For those that are renewing, you get to keep your old FLC number and you are able to merge the information from the old system to the new platform.
The new system will also allow room for more upload space (attachments) and provides a section for Applicant and Processor Information so that both the FLC and Processor are up to date with defect items or any additional request from the DLSE.
The only item that the FLC, not the Processor, will receive will be the Issuance Certificate (License).
Exams are being outsourced to a third-party company that will administer exams on their system (Expected Launch Date August 1, 2021), which can handle more than one hundred exams being taken simultaneously.
Applicants who applied last year and have been waiting for an exam and whose file now shows closed for inactivity, the application and exam fees ($794) will be carried over to the new system upon request. The transfer will not happen automatically. It is important to request that the DLSE reopen your file before it can be merged into the new system (approximately June 1, 2021) so that you have plenty of time to resubmit.
Finally, please keep in mind that if you were given an extension that you make sure to request a continuation of that extension at least two weeks prior to the expiration of the extension, as the DLSE will not automatically provide extensions.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has begun to implement new WHD-issued certificates. The changes are largely cosmetic, but will still continue to have an “expiration date” or “valid dates” for growers and farm workers to check when ensuring the certificate is current. The new format and design changes have no effect on an FLC or FLCE’s responsibility to show these cards to prove that they are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, as required by the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act. Currently registered FLCs and FLCEs need not take any action at this time. Their current Certificate of Registration remains valid until its expiration date unless revoked by the Department. Any certificates you renew will be issued in the new format.
Please be advised that any license holders should always make sure that their licenses are current. If you need assistance with your licensure, please contact our office for advice and guidance. We here at Raimondo and Associates have always been here to help Farm Labor Contractors, and we will continue to do so.
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A special thanks to Porfirio Rios of 4 All Enterprise, Inc., and Gil Molina of CAAL, for this information.