Deanne Siemer, Labor’s part-time hearing officer, said some of those presently in the system may have already departed the commonwealth.
“We have not had time to do any supplemental analyses,” she added.
After Nov. 27, the final day for the issuance of the permit, Labor may report the final number of umbrella permits issued to guest workers, Siemer said.
The major problem that Labor and the Division of Immigration face in the permit-issuing process is having sufficient knowledgeable staff to work the long hours that this program requires, she said.
According to Siemer, they utilized their “best staff” to hasten the issuance of each individual permit,
Despite the ongoing issuance of permit, she said, the essential functions of Labor were not affected.
In reaction to the request of the guest workers for a more systematic and convenient distribution of permits, Seimer said they would have arranged the multi-purpose center as venue but the Commonwealth Election Commission already reserved it for the election.
“We also wish we had better temporary facilities so that people would not have to stand outside,” she said.
Seimer said some permits were not available because the holder may have fell into more than one category when the permits were printed.
For example, a holder of a valid permit may also have had an application pending.
Because Labor treated the various categories as separate batches in the computer processing, names were cross-checked and permits were not printed in one category when the worker was already listed in another category, she said.
Labor, she said, will print the permits in batches in order to have an efficient system for handing them out.
