Thad
08-25-2011, 06:32 PM
By MITCH LIES ([email protected])
Capital Press
U.S. employers can't ask for references when seeking domestic workers under the federal H-2A guest worker program, according to a foreign labor specialist with the Oregon Employment Department.
The prohibition puts employers in a bind with workers' compensation insurance carriers, which request they get references. And it restricts a farm's ability to gauge the ability and aptitude of workers, said Bill Case, an Albany, Ore., farmer and packer who uses the H-2A program.
"How many businesses hire someone without checking references?" Case asked.
After being featured in a Capital Press article on H-2A, Case was told by the Oregon Employment Department that he couldn't ask for references. In the article, he mentioned he asked for references, but domestic applicants rarely provided any.
Case earlier this year was informed job postings could not include a requirement that applicants have one month experience at a farm or packinghouse.
"I'm supposed to hire anybody and everybody that applies, I guess," he said.
The prohibition on asking for references matches the prohibition on requiring experience, said Eric Villegas, foreign labor specialist with the Oregon Employment Department.
Because employers cannot require experience, he said, they have no basis to require a reference.
Employers using H-2A must first seek to fill positions with domestic workers. Only after showing they can't fill jobs domestically can employers use the guestworker program.
https://www.capitalpress.com/newsletter/ml-h2a-follow-082611
Capital Press
U.S. employers can't ask for references when seeking domestic workers under the federal H-2A guest worker program, according to a foreign labor specialist with the Oregon Employment Department.
The prohibition puts employers in a bind with workers' compensation insurance carriers, which request they get references. And it restricts a farm's ability to gauge the ability and aptitude of workers, said Bill Case, an Albany, Ore., farmer and packer who uses the H-2A program.
"How many businesses hire someone without checking references?" Case asked.
After being featured in a Capital Press article on H-2A, Case was told by the Oregon Employment Department that he couldn't ask for references. In the article, he mentioned he asked for references, but domestic applicants rarely provided any.
Case earlier this year was informed job postings could not include a requirement that applicants have one month experience at a farm or packinghouse.
"I'm supposed to hire anybody and everybody that applies, I guess," he said.
The prohibition on asking for references matches the prohibition on requiring experience, said Eric Villegas, foreign labor specialist with the Oregon Employment Department.
Because employers cannot require experience, he said, they have no basis to require a reference.
Employers using H-2A must first seek to fill positions with domestic workers. Only after showing they can't fill jobs domestically can employers use the guestworker program.
https://www.capitalpress.com/newsletter/ml-h2a-follow-082611