Hi All,

I am looking for some guidance with regards to conversion from hourly to salaried. I am on a H1B visa here with my employer. My employer has filed my LCA as an hourly employee. As a policy my employer does not provide any bench when their hourly employees current project is done. If an employee is unable to find a new job for himself immediately then they lay off the employee and rehire them and file a fresh H1 when the employee finds a new project/job. Salaried employees though get 2-3 weeks of bench. I just finished a project and was told that I will not get any bench period and will be laid off. Luckily I got another project in a different state than I am in right now. Now my employer needs to file a new LCA. To get the benefit of bench as a salaried employee I have asked my Immigration team to file my LCA as a salaried employee. They came back saying that it is not possible and will have to continue as a hourly employee. I am trying to understand is there any legal reason why I cant be switched to a salaried employee from an hourly. Please advise.

Thank you,
Kiran Vajja