Home
Menu
Subscriber
Login
...Newsletters
..
Labor Resources
..
Labor Requirements
..
Overtime Calculator
..
Safety
..
Wage Survey
Free Resouces
...Supply
Catalog
...Labor/Safety
Issues
...CA
Farm Bureau
...Ag
Accent Newsletter
About FELS®
...What
is FELS?
...Subscribe
to FELS
...FELS
Services
...Meet
our Staff
...Contact
FELS®
...Map
to FELS®
...Legal
Notice
FELS
Staff Resources
FLC
Institute Login
FELS
Admin
 |
 |
 |
DHS and SSA Issues - FELS Recommendations
Summary of Regulation by Carl Borden, CFBF (Spanish version)
SSA
No-Match Letters
SSA
2008 News Release Regarding DECOR Letters & DHS No-Match Letter
DHS
Letter inserted into SSA No-Match Letter
Summary
of regulation by Barsamian & Moody
- Sample Letter to Employee (English) RE: SSA Mismatch by Barsamian & Moody
- Sample Letter to Employee (Spanish) RE: SSA Mismatch by Barsamian & Moody
Summary of regulation by Monte Lake
Summary
of regulation by Proskauer Rose
UC
No-Match Central - Howard Rosenberg
Other Links:
Form
I-9 (Rev. 06/05/07)N
Form
I-9 (Rev. 06/05/07)N Spanish
DHS
E-Verify System Informational Webpage
California
Farm Bureau Federation Position Statement
White
House Immigration Fact Sheet
No-Match
Regulations Announced
No-Match
Regulations - August 15, 2007
ICE
Fact Sheet
ICE Q&A
No-Match Regulations
Social
Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS)
Bush's
illegal worker plan has holes - San Jose Mercury News
Overview:
The Bush administration has announced a series of steps it will take to “improve border security and immigration within existing law.”
Of special interest to agricultural employers is the Department of Homeland Security’s issuance of a safe-harbor rule for employers receiving so-called no-match letters from the Social Security Administration. A no-match letter states that the combination of name and Social Security account number submitted by the employer to the SSA for an employee does not match SSA’s records.
The new rule’s summary states that an employer’s receipt of a no-match letter, “when combined with other evidence known to the employer,” may cause the employer to have “constructive knowledge” that the persons identified in the letter are not work-eligible. The summary says that by continuing to employ them, the employer may be breaking the law. While the new rule does not require an employer receiving a no-match letter to take any action, if the employer takes steps specified in the rule, DHS cannot use the no-match letter as evidence of constructive knowledge of an employee’s work ineligibility.
The new rule is expected to take effect Sept. 12.
The administration says it will also reduce the number of documents that employers can accept to confirm identity and work eligibility of employees and raise by 25 percent the civil fines imposed on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
The president has directed the Department of Labor to reform the H-2A Temporary Foreign Agricultural Worker Program, “to institute changes that will provide farmers with an orderly and timely flow of legal workers, while protecting the rights of laborers.”
More information about the no-match safe-harbor rule will be published
in the Aug. 15 edition of Ag Alert®. To view the regulations go to
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1186757867585.shtm
Then, on the right of the page, under “More From Homeland Security,”
click on “Social Security No-Match: Safe Harbor Procedures etc.
California Farm Bureau Federation Position Statement
The California Farm Bureau Federation makes the following points regarding this new regulation:
• Family farmers and ranchers support border security and want to obey the law. We are concerned about unintended consequences when the new regulation takes effect.
• The ultimate solution to the problem is to assure that there are enough people available to work legally on farms. Congress must pass meaningful immigration reform and must do so quickly.
• The new rule will go into effect during the height of the California harvest season, when the demand for on-farm work hits its peak. Farmers already say they’re worried about whether they can hire enough people to harvest their crops. Confusion about the new rule may add to the worker shortages that farmers are already experiencing.
• We don’t know how many on-farm employees will be affected by the no-match rule. Farms rely on immigrant workers. The new rule may place farmers in the difficult position of having to enforce immigration laws themselves and having to fire workers at a time they need help to harvest their crops.
• We appreciate the administration’s pledge to reform the existing H-2A agricultural guest-worker program. But that program doesn’t have enough flexibility to be much help to fruit and vegetable farmers in California. That’s why we have pushed for Congress to create a more workable program for on-farm jobs. That’s needed now, more than ever.
• Family farmers and ranchers want to hire people who are legally able to work, and they comply with employment eligibility verification rules when hiring employees. Everybody in America benefits from the crops grown on our farms. It’s in everyone’s best interest to reform immigration laws so enough legal workers are available to harvest American-grown food.
|
|