Types of Seasonal Need and How to Prove Them

One of the most important facets of the H-2B process is proving that you are an employer that has a temporary/seasonal need for employees. Whether this is a seasonal, peak load, one-time, or intermittent need. The definitions for those types of needs are as follows:

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Seasonal: must show that your need is traditionally tied to a season of the year by an event or pattern and of a recurring  nature.

• You cannot claim a seasonal need if the time period when you DO NOT need the service/labor is unpredictable, subject to change, or considered a vacation period for your permanent employees.
• An example of this would be a landscaping company that cannot perform work during the winter as the snow hinders them from performing work.

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Peak load: must show that you regularly employ permanent workers to perform the services/labor at the place of employment, and you need to temporarily supplement your permanent staff due to a seasonal/short-term demand. It’s also important that these temporary additions will not become a part of your regular operation. 

• An example of this would be a landscaper that also performs snow removal work during the winter. The peak need is during the maintenance season in spring-fall but does not need the additional staff during the winter where the permanent staff can handle the snow removal contracts.

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One-time occurrence: must show that the employment situation is otherwise permanent, but a temporary event of short term duration that has created the need for temporary labor, and that you have not employed workers to perform this service/labor in the past and will not need it in the future. 

• These could be types of jobs that were not reasonably foreseeable, as in jobs that are occurring in response to a natural disaster or a one time contract or that occurs in a location other than the place of intended employment.

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Intermittent: must show that you have not employed permanent/full-time workers to perform the services/labor, and that you occasionally or intermittently need temporary workers to perform services/labor for short periods. Meaning that you rarely employ full time or permanent labor.

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There are a variety of ways to go about explaining your category of temporary need. All of which is written in your Statement of Temporary Need that is submitted to DOL with your form ETA 9142B. To support your statement of need, DOL asks that an employer provide evidence that services to justify the dates of need being requested for certification. Examples of this type of documentation would be something akin to monthly invoices, or other documentation that can directly verify your need. 

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Regardless of what category of seasonality you fall into, being able to prove your downtime is crucial in being successful in the H-2B program. To get a better understanding of your seasonality and types of evidence you can provide, contact us to go over strategies to ensure your success in the program!

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