The suit, which seeks certification as a class action on behalf of all affected vendors, was filed in the Federal District Court in San Francisco.
Labor certification must be filed with the Department of Labor (DOL) by an employer and must comply with the regulations under the PERM process.
On Nov. 21, 2000, this court issued its decision in Palm Beach Canvassing Board v. Harris, stating that amended certifications must be filed by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2000.
With no judicial chance of stopping the certification, the Democrats today began preparing the public for the legal contests to the certification that would be filed on Monday morning if Mr. Bush has declared himself the president-elect by then.
Additionally, the labor certification application cannot be filed less than 30 days after the last advertisement.
And his supporters argued, before certification, that legal challenges were inappropriate then and should be filed afterwards and, as soon as the certification was made, turned round and said legal challenges filed after the event came too late.Republicans dismiss this, saying Democrats would have done exactly the same.
Any protest must be filed prior to the certification of election results by the county canvassing board.
The challenge must be filed within five days of certification in a trial court of the county where the chosen defendant resides.
In the month following the election, some 50 individual suits were filed concerning the various counts, recounts, and certification deadlines.
A class certification brief, detailing the employees' experiences at the company, was due to be filed yesterday; lawyers for both sides worked through much of Tuesday night and all day yesterday, apparently to beat that deadline.
