Understanding New Executive Actions

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Labor shortages continue to be a major issue for producers nationwide. WAFLA Director Dan Fazio says that’s why many farmers in Washington have embraced the H-2A guest worker program, increasing the number of DOL certified H-2A workers in Washington by more than 40 percent in each of the past three years.

FAZIO: Unfortunately, the President’s recent executive actions have done really nothing to ease the labor shortage, and in fact some folks are arguing that it will likely exacerbate the shortage.

The President’s executive actions will be the subject of a live 1 hour webinar WAFLA will be conducting on Thursday, March 12.

FAZIO: The purpose of the webinar is to help employers understand exactly what could be happening with the workforce due to these executive actions - due to these new programs DACA and DAPA. We’ve asked Tom Roach, an experienced immigration and business attorney from Pasco, to lead the discussion.

Fazio says employers must make changes now to their policies or risk being charged with knowingly employing an undocumented worker.

FAZIO: Obviously, WAFLA is in favor of providing some kind of status adjustment to these people. Unfortunately, under the present rules, the federal government has told us that if an employee reveals to an employer that he is applying for DAPA, the employer has to fire the worker. So, while WAFLA is working to obtain a safe harbor for the employers who assist workers in applying for the executive action programs, Tom Roach is going to explain the steps that employers need to take to protect themselves against a charge of continuing to employ a person who is not work authorized.

For more information on the webinar and WAFLA visit wafla.org.

That’s Washington Ag Today.

I’m Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.