Tenth Annual Labor Conference

Tenth Annual Labor Conference

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

The 10th annual Washington Farm Labor Association Labor Conference will be held Thursday, February 13 at the Tri-Cities Convention Center in Kennewick. The all day conference entitled “Lighting the Way” will address labor and employment needs of seasonal employers. Dan Fazio with the Washington Farm Labor Association is here to talk about some of the labor and workforce issues that will be discussed at the conference.

FAZIO: This year we have a ton of updates for people from hot goods, to Obamacare, to immigration reform. Actually, the labor conference - it’s two conferences in one. First we have these general sessions where we cover the big national issues with the national experts, but even more importantly we have ten breakout sessions where attendees get to pick and choose the topics that interest them. Those are really in-depth hour long presentations where we provide the attendee with a concrete checklist for the various labor and employment situation they’re facing.

Fazio says that the twelve workshops conducted by experts in labor and employment matters are scheduled to cover such topics as immigration reform from the workers and small business standpoint, handling drama in the workplace, what to know now about DOL wage and hour inspections, I-9 audits best practices, and navigating garnishments.

So, if you’re a seasonal employer and you wonder about compliance with labor regulations.

FAZIO: This conference is a must. You don’t want to miss it. For more information people should go to our website, which is wafla.org. See you on Thursday, February 13th.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.