1/4/08 Surviving H2A

Surviving H2A. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. H2A is about the only game in town when it comes to legal immigration and while it is fairly simple in nature, you can quickly become mired in the legal aspects according to Ryan Edgley, Edgley Law Offices in Yakima, Washington. EDGLEY: A lot of the cases that I've been involved in recently have arisen out of the use of H2A, both wage and hour cases as well as cases alleging violation of the Migrant Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the State Farm Labor Contractor Act. You need to learn how to manage the risk Edgley says there are a lot of legal issues that people don't think about when they start an H2A program. He says pre-planning is key. EDGLEY: It is not the time to be investigating and learning about the ramifications of the extremely extensive H2A regulations and how they are going to be applied in your particular situation after you've made a significant investment in H2A or in the hectic times of harvest. He says ultimately you are the one responsible. EDGLEY: Even though this is a government program and there are two agencies directly involved in the use of H2A, they do not monitor you or guarantee that you are in compliance with the law. It is not their job to tell you what the law means, it's not their job to ensure that you are complying with the law and frankly bureaucrats often don't know what the law means either. More on surviving H2A Monday. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.