Tag Archives: Labor

>Georgia Governor Deal Signs Immigration Law

Posted on by

>Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed the very controversial HB87 Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act on Friday May 13 along with about 50 other bills passed by the legislature. This bill was blogged about many times as it worked its way through the General Assembly. The portion of the bill that has generated the most interest among our members is the section on the e-Verify system. I will give a much more detailed review of those provisions at a later date and send them to the Georgia members but suffice it to say that most of our members could have to use the E-Verify program by the 2013 season.

The bill has many sections dealing with immigrants, employers, and those that transport or harbor illegal immigrants. These provisions put severe criminal penalties for knowingly helping illegal immigrants stay underground and/or move them from place to place. Along with the employer sections, there are several sections dealing with the expansion of a
Federal program that allows local law enforcement to initiate deportation proceedings as well as requiring proof of legal residence if the law enforcement official has probable cause to suspect a person they have stopped for whatever reason is illegal.

Several of these provisions are similar to laws in other states. Many of those laws are being challenged or have been overturned in those states. It is expected that those sections in the Georgia law will be challenged immediately upon the law going into effect. I would expect an injunction to be put in effect when those challenges are filed. The question becomes whether or not any injunction will stop the entire bill or just those sections that are being challenged.

There are many questions regarding the bill that will likely be answered as rules are drafted and several news articles about the bill have been seen throughout the state. The issue causing the most calls to this office is the effective date of the law (particularly the E-Verify sections). The bill has now become law. The effective date is July 1, 2011 for most provisions contained in the bill, but the E-Verify section (Section 12) has a phase-in period. Employers with 500 or more employees will have to comply beginning January 1, 2012…those with 100 to 500 employees must comply July 1, 2012 and those with 10 to 100 employees must comply by July 1, 2013. Those with fewer than 10 employees are exempt from the E-Verify provisions of the law entirely. It is important to note that the number of employees for determining compliance will be the number of employees (those working more than 35 hours per week) ON January 1, of each year. Evidence of compliance with this code section must be shown to any local, or state authority issuing a business, professional, occupational or other license or that may be covered in certain sections of Georgia law before a license can be renewed or issued.

As Georgia moves forward with this implementation of this law, we will keep all members but particularly our Georgia members informed as to the details of this broad immigration law. Other states in our region are in the process of passing or have passed similar laws. It will be interesting to see how these evolve and move within the courts and as the rules are drafted and promulgated. Keep reading the blog and don’t hesitate to call us if you have any questions.

>Georgia General Assembly Passes Immigration reform With E-Verify

Posted on by

>Late in the last day of the Legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly has passed a very tough immigration enforcement and reform law in place. The Governor has given every indication he will sign whatever immigration bill the legislature sends him. There were some last minute wrangling in both houses with amendments that change compliance dates etc but we are looking at a bill that will require all private employees with 10 or more employees to participate in the E-Verify program.

Over the objections of members of both houses that the bill will cost the state millions in legal fees, lost taxes from cancelled conventions and will cause racial profiling, the bill passed both the Senate and House with strong majorities. It will be some time before we see final language and the rules. We will work with our Georgia members in the coming months and years as this bill gets phased in. Summaries will be sent out to our those GA ginners as soon as possible.

This will probably be our last blog post on this issue until we get a summary of all the changes made by both houses and we have a chance to summarize the bill as finally written. Our attention will now be focused on the AL legislature where the House has already passed a similar bill.

DSF

>Georgia Immigration Update

Posted on by

>The Georgia General Assembly has been working on anti-illegal immigration legislation this session. Here is the current situation. The House and Senate have each passed their own versions of Immigration bills. The part that will likely have the most impact on ginning is the mandatory use of the federal E-Verify program. This program has been around a long time and, while not perfect, seems to be the best method for employment screening for eligibility to work.

The House Judiciary Non-Civil committee, just today, took up the Senate version of the bill and substituted its original House language in its place. This means we are now working with a Senate Bill and a House Bill with nearly exactly the same language. In GA each bill must stand on its own where in Congress they could conference right now. This means that one of the bills must pass the other house. Whichever bill passes first, the originating house has the option to concur which is likely if there are only minor changes or they could require a conference committee. All indication is that we are headed for a conference committee on this bill.

South Carolina passed a mandatory E-Verify bill a few years ago but unlike the GA bill, SC allows for businesses to hire employees from a limited list of states in lieu of using the E-Verify system.

The bill in Georgia would require all businesses with 5 or more employees to participate in E-Verify beginning December 31, 2012. This effectively gives two seasons before we would need to begin participating in E-Verify.

There are several other sections to the bill but the E-Verify is the one that is generating the most interest.

More as the bills move.

DSF

>Immigration Bills Moving in Georgia

Posted on by

>

The Georgia Legislature is currently debating sweeping changes to their employment and immigration laws. Those changes could dramatically affect the way employers hire workers in the state.
Georgia state government, like many other state governments, is under tremendous revenue pressure. The belief is that illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Georgia workers as well as adding to the tax burden of those who are working. Both the House and Senate in Georgia have bills that would require employers to use the federal eVerify program. The EVerify program is an electronic means of checking the employment status for potential employees. This is expected to catch those workers whose names and numbers do not match or who may be in the country legally (student visa, tourist visa etc.) and not be eligible to work.
Proponents of these bills say that the thousands of illegals in Georgia are taking jobs away from people who are willing to work but can’t find employment. They also say the low wage workers are putting downward pressure on pay for unskilled labor. Opponents say that the jobs most migrant workers are doing are those that native Georgians are not willing to do at any price.
Agriculture is caught right in the middle of this debate. The vast majority of agricultural employers attempt to hire documented workers but the sheer number of workers needed for a relatively short period of time makes hiring local workers almost impossible. They rely on migrant workers to fill that gap. Those migrants produce documents that the employer MUST take on face value for fear of discrimination complaints.
The only alternative to open hiring is the use of the federal H2A program. That program allows unskilled agricultural workers to come into the country for temporary work. Employers must request these workers and pay all the fees associated with getting them to the farm or gin as well as paying an inflated wage rate. This is a very expensive and cumbersome program that also forces employers to hire US workers first. In the experience of most, the local workers typically don’t last due to the long hours, drug testing and other reasons. The high turnover rate and expense associated with the program cause most potential employers to shy away from the program.
Many ag groups are pushing to eliminate the EVerify mandate from the bills in Atlanta. Many states are looking to see what Georgia does as one of the largest employers in the Southeast. Only time will tell. Look at the Southeastern Ginners Blog for updates. southeasternginners.blogspot.com

>OSHA Getting Set for I2P2

Posted on by

>OSHA is in the beginning stages of drafting yet another new rule. The Injury and Illness Prevention Program or I2P2 would be a rule that requires businesses to provide a safety program that is specifically tailored to the hazards onsite and has certain criteria that each program must meet.

This idea has been around for a long time and was last brought up several years ago. We, honestly thought the issue was dead but has gained new life recently. The OSH Act (Law) already says employers must provide a safe workplace. That law is known as Sec. 5(a)1 or the “General Duty Clause”. “…employers must provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm…” This clause is a catch all that many gins are already familiar with.
The General Duty Clause is used any time a specific OSHA standard doesn’t directly apply but someone still got hurt. It hasn’t been used as a catch-all for general inspections until recently. Nevertheless, OSHA is beginning to gather information to draft a new catch-all type rule to require a safety or I2P2 program for employers. This could likely end up being just more piling on for citations.
Do we think safety programs are important? SAFETY PROGRAMS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. The best way to prevent accidents is to develop a comprehensive program that inventories all hazards and eliminates the hazard or eliminates exposure to the hazard. That is already implied in current law and new law is not necessary in my opinion.
Southeastern Cotton Ginners, as do most of the other ginner associations, already has a very good safety program that is easily adapted to your operation. We’re happy to work with you in implementing it at your facility we just don’t want another way for OSHA to write our members up if they don’t cross every T and dot every “i”.
DSF
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ,

>Immigration Reform May NOT Move This Year

Posted on by

>Today, President Obama admitted that Comprehensive Immigration Reform may not move this year despite efforts in the Senate to get it moving. Sen Lindsey Graham has said publicly that the immigration measure they have been crafting is not ready to move forward and won’t be without Republican Support.

President Obama instead has indicated that Congress has had a long year and the Administration will instead focus on border security measures. Additionally, Democrats in Congress have presented a new outline that they say contains a number of topics that are more Republican in their derivation. Chief among these are securing our borders.

The topic was thought dead until the new Arizona immigration law was signed just a few days ago and Sen. Majority Leader Reid promised to bring CIR to the floor by the end of the year. The big shocker was that he said he’d do it before any climate change legislation was passed.

The Administration hasn’t been that set on getting CIR done this year but has said it is taking a long hard look a the Arizona law.