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Lawyers who appear before the Labor Department’s administrative law judges must file through eFile/eServe starting Dec. 9, and the filing day for those submissions now runs to 11:59:59 p.m. in the judge’s time zone.
The Labor Department’s OALJ e-filing rule, published as a final rule on Nov. 9, 2026, requires any party with a lawyer or other representative in a case before the Office of Administrative Law Judges to file and serve papers electronically through the department’s eFile/eServe system. The change takes effect Dec. 9 and reaches every employer, worker and attorney whose immigration-related labor case lands before those judges. Self-represented parties can keep filing on paper.
Most immigration lawyers rarely appear before OALJ. The ones who do are handling the hardest moments in the employment-based system. Its judges hear appeals of PERM labor certification denials through the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals, contested H-1B wage enforcement cases under the labor condition application rules, and H-2A and H-2B disputes. The H-2A penalty fight now heading to the Supreme Court in Sun Valley Orchards began there.
What the OALJ e-filing rule changes on Dec. 9
- Mandatory e-filing: Anyone represented by an attorney or non-attorney representative “must file using the Department’s eFile/eServe system,” unless a judge allows another method for good cause or a standing order of the Chief Judge or a District Chief Judge says otherwise (new 29 CFR 18.30(b)(3)).
- Consent to e-service: Anyone who e-files, whether required to or by choice, is deemed to consent to electronic service of judges’ orders and other parties’ filings. Until now, electronic service needed written consent.
- Exhibits too: Hearing exhibits must be e-filed unless an exhibit cannot be put in electronic form (18.82).
A longer filing day, measured on the judge’s clock
The change practitioners will feel first is the deadline. Under the current text of 29 CFR 18.32, the last day to file ends at 4:30 p.m. local time where the event is to occur. Under the new rule, an electronic filing counts as filed when the system receives it, and the last day runs until 11:59:59 p.m. in the time zone of the presiding judge’s office. A case not yet assigned to a national or district office runs on the Chief Judge’s office clock.
That adds roughly seven and a half hours to the filing day, but it is measured from the judge’s office, not the filer’s desk. A Seattle employer’s lawyer in a case assigned to an Eastern office has until 8:59 p.m. Pacific, not midnight. One commenter asked the department to use the filer’s local time instead. The department refused, citing the administrative burden and the federal appellate and civil rules, which also tie electronic deadlines to the court’s time zone.
Five years from proposal to final rule
The mandate first appeared as a direct final rule on Jan. 11, 2021 (86 FR 1800), meant to apply from that April. The department withdrew it on Feb. 25, 2021, and reopened comments on a companion proposal. The final rule reports 36 unique comments on the OALJ rule and a parallel Benefits Review Board rule. Of the 24 in scope, one supported the change and 22 asked that it be delayed or dropped because of problems with eFile/eServe. The department says it has improved the system, held listening sessions and is “confident that the issues identified have been addressed sufficiently,” adding that many complaints were “largely Board specific.” It cites savings on mailing and copying but gives no dollar figures.
The BALCA question the rule leaves open
The rule never mentions BALCA, 20 CFR Part 656 or the H-1B, H-2A and H-2B rules in 20 CFR Part 655. That matters because 29 CFR 18.10(a) gives way to program rules: “If a specific Department of Labor regulation governs a proceeding, the provisions of that regulation apply.” PERM appeals start with a request for review filed with the certifying officer under the labor certification rules, not with the OALJ docket clerk. The likely result is that the e-filing mandate governs filings once a matter is docketed before the judges, while the program rules still control how a case first reaches them. Practitioners should look for a standing order or updated BALCA guidance that settles the point before Dec. 9.
The timing adds pressure. A PERM overhaul cleared White House review in October, and the department’s Oct. 8 suspension of eight employers from PERM showed a more aggressive enforcement posture. Along with OFLC’s latest H-2A labor supply state determinations, that points to more labor-certification disputes reaching OALJ. Firms without eFile/eServe accounts would do well to open them before a contested case forces the issue.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice.
Sources
- Department of Labor, “Rules of Practice and Procedure for Administrative Hearings Before the Office of Administrative Law Judges,” final rule, 91 FR 70790 (Nov. 9, 2026)
- Federal Register document 2026-22761
- Department of Labor direct final rule on OALJ e-filing, 86 FR 1800 (Jan. 11, 2021)
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 29 CFR Part 18, Subpart A (current text)
- Unified Agenda entry, RIN 1290-AA36
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