New rules issued for H-2A guest work program
The U.S. Labor Department is reversing a Bush administration rule that allowed farmers an easier path for hiring temporary or seasonal foreign workers. The department has issued new regulations that will force growers to make a greater effort to find legal U.S. residents to fill jobs to pick crops and fill other harvest-time roles. The new regulations also require employers to increase pay and provide more job-safety protections for the thousands of foreign farm workers who are hired.
The old rule, which affected the H-2A guest-worker program, was adopted just before President George W. Bush left office in November 2008. The Labor Department suspended that regulation in May 2009 to be replaced by the new rule, which is slated to begin March 15. The change will increase the average pay for temporary farm workers by nearly a dollar per hour. Farmers also will be required to list their job openings on a new online job registry, and state work-force agencies must inspect worker housing before employers can get the nod to hire foreign laborers. Labor department officials said Thursday the changes were designed to protect agriculture’s most at-risk workers.
“This new rule will make it possible for all workers who are working hard on American soil to receive fair pay while at the same time expand opportunities for U.S. workers,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. “The actions that we have taken through this rule-making also will enable us to detect and remedy different forms of worker violations.” Source: Western United Dairymen 2/12/10
RESCISSION OF 'NO-MATCH' RULE PROPOSED
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a rule this week that would rescind the Social Security No-Match rule proposed two years ago. The original rule would have given employers and workers 30 days to clear up errors in documentation. If discrepancies cannot be resolved, the employer then has 90 days to dismiss the worker. In response to an industry lawsuit, a federal court had enjoined DHS from implementation of the rule on October 10, 2007.
DHS says it plans to focus its enforcement efforts relating to employment of aliens not authorized to work in the U.S. on increased compliance through improved verification including participation in "E-Verify" and other programs and other programs. Source : SEDFA
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