 Todd Davis
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You didn’t spend May glued to C-SPAN. You had more important things to do like, say, selling plants.
At the end of May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law requiring companies to use E-Verify to certify employees’ legal status. The ruling basically said that state law preempts federal law.
It’s a victory for states’ rights. In this case, Arizona was tired of the U.S. government fumbling around, and decided to take action. That’s the way our country should function.
But now you’re saying, “What does this mean to me?”
There are plenty of ramifications. For one, talking to Craig Regelbrugge, this could be a kick in the pants for the feds. Regelbrugge, the American Nursery and Landscape Association vice president of Government Relations, said U.S. lawmakers aren’t anxious to have a patchwork of laws across the country. So they could quickly enact E-Verify laws across the board.
But before nationwide E-Verify is passed, let’s fix the system. H-2A and H-2B, our means of hiring agricultural and unskilled migrant workers, are disasters. In our country, when laws don’t work, we get rid of them. If not, we’d still have prohibition, speakeasies and drunken flappers on every street corner.
Ag employers need workers when it’s time to harvest, not months after crops have rotted in the fields. H-2B limits shouldn’t be met one hour into Jan. 1 every year.
And let’s get the 11 million illegal immigrants in this country to step forward, get background checks, pay fines and back taxes and go through a process to gain legal worker status. Amnesty? Not by my definition.
Watch your state politics
Next ramification: Pay better attention to state politics. Depending on when your legislature is in session, and which direction your state leans, employment laws could change quickly. If you’re not paying attention, you could lose your business license or be cited for breaking laws you didn’t know existed.
And beware: Social Security Administration mismatch letters are going out again. The Bush Administration gave employers a clear path to follow to avoid prosecution after receiving SSA letters. Under the Obama Administration, there is no step-by-step outline. ANLA’s legal team is still working on suggested protocols for employers who receive mismatch letters. But for now it would be wise to do the following:
One, do not ignore this letter. Two, inform the employees and tell them they have to get these issues fixed with the SSA. Three, document everything.
After you receive a second SSA letter, or after a reasonable amount of time for the employee to get the error fixed (the Bush plan gave you 93 days) you may want to let the employee go. For now, this is the best plan of action to avoid legal action by federal (or state) authorities, and to avoid potential discrimination lawsuits.
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