/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) today announced the proposed suspension for nine months of a final rule implementing changes to the H-2A program, which allows U.S. agricultural businesses to employ foreign workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs. The department's proposed action is open for public comment for 10 days.
"Because many stakeholders have raised concerns about the H-2A regulations, this proposed suspension is the prudent and responsible action to take," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "Suspending the rule would allow the department to review and reconsider the regulation, while minimizing disruption to state workforce agencies, employers and workers."
The proposed suspension of the final rule will appear in the Federal Register on March 17. The final rule appeared in the Federal Register on Dec. 18, 2008, and took effect on Jan. 17, 2009.
The H-2A nonimmigrant program is designed to provide agricultural businesses with short-term foreign agricultural labor when there are not enough domestic workers. Receiving an H-2A labor certification is the first step in the employment-based immigration process to work on a farm.
In 2008, the department granted North Carolina, Georgia and Florida the largest numbers of H-2A labor certifications.
The Labor Department's Office of Foreign Labor Certification will continue to accept and process H-2A applications during the proposed suspension period. Any final action on today's proposed suspension will appear in a future Federal Register notice.
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Showing posts with label H-2A. Show all posts
Showing posts with label H-2A. Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
U.S. Department of Labor Issues Final H-2A Rule
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and Employment Standards Administration (ESA) today published a final rule that modernizes the H-2A program for employing foreign workers in temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs, and enhances important worker protections.
"These reforms will improve the operation of the H-2A program for agricultural employers and help ensure that the employment of temporary foreign workers does not adversely affect U.S. workers," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Many of the program's regulations have not been updated in more than 20 years. Last year, only about 75,000 positions were certified to be filled by legal H-2A workers, while there are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 undocumented workers employed on America's farms.
The changes will update the H-2A program to improve the process for hiring legal foreign agricultural workers when no U.S. workers can be found. Unlike the proposed AgJOBS legislation, which would arbitrarily slash agricultural workers' wages, the revised H-2A regulations will set required wages according to prevailing local market rates, a methodology that has been used successfully in other temporary worker programs.
Regulatory updates include reducing unnecessarily duplicative filing, and federal and state government review of applications. Required employer recruitment for U.S. workers will begin earlier, thereby giving U.S. workers additional notice of available jobs, and employers will be required to submit an initial recruitment report to the department prior to receiving certification.
The rule establishes enhanced penalties for violations and new tools to ensure employer compliance, including audits, revocation of approved labor certifications, increased debarment authority and substantial increases in fines - up to $100,000 for violations resulting in serious injury or death of a worker. The rule also will prohibit employers and recruiters from charging fees to workers for access to jobs, a practice that in the past has led to many reported abuses.
The Office of Management and Budget has cleared the rule, which appears in today's Federal Register. The rule will become effective on Jan. 17, 2009.
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"These reforms will improve the operation of the H-2A program for agricultural employers and help ensure that the employment of temporary foreign workers does not adversely affect U.S. workers," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.
Many of the program's regulations have not been updated in more than 20 years. Last year, only about 75,000 positions were certified to be filled by legal H-2A workers, while there are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 undocumented workers employed on America's farms.
The changes will update the H-2A program to improve the process for hiring legal foreign agricultural workers when no U.S. workers can be found. Unlike the proposed AgJOBS legislation, which would arbitrarily slash agricultural workers' wages, the revised H-2A regulations will set required wages according to prevailing local market rates, a methodology that has been used successfully in other temporary worker programs.
Regulatory updates include reducing unnecessarily duplicative filing, and federal and state government review of applications. Required employer recruitment for U.S. workers will begin earlier, thereby giving U.S. workers additional notice of available jobs, and employers will be required to submit an initial recruitment report to the department prior to receiving certification.
The rule establishes enhanced penalties for violations and new tools to ensure employer compliance, including audits, revocation of approved labor certifications, increased debarment authority and substantial increases in fines - up to $100,000 for violations resulting in serious injury or death of a worker. The rule also will prohibit employers and recruiters from charging fees to workers for access to jobs, a practice that in the past has led to many reported abuses.
The Office of Management and Budget has cleared the rule, which appears in today's Federal Register. The rule will become effective on Jan. 17, 2009.
----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
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www.georgiafrontpage.com
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