Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

Steve's Selected Notes from Ag-Busnet -- December 2000

Contents:

• Reader Spots Fake SSN Card  12/21/00
• SSA Has E-mail Newsletter  12/13/00
• First Aid Training in Agriculture  12/12/00
• Pesticide Workers and Environmental Concerns  12/12/00 (WPS-forum)
• Vacation Pay and Diesel Engines  12/07/00
• Employee Savings Deductions 12/05/00

A reader wrote ...  "Just checking my work here -did I do all the right steps on this one and, is this a good procedure to follow?  I know that aliens are protected from employment discrimination under the amnesty provision of the IRCA and that one must "show a good faith compliance" on this issue (and, not wanting to be immigration officers either)...

I had a gentleman applying for a job today and the signature on his social security and the signature on his resident card does not match. He also said he couldn't write and so he could not sign off on our documents.  We asked if the signature on the card was his? He said it was his brother's signature.

So, with reasonable suspicion on the validity of his card, I call the Social Security Administration (1-800-772-1213) and provided them with the potentials social security number - and they say, "It is NOT a valid number."  I repeat the number so that there is no mistake - "No," they say, "it is NOT valid."

I tell the guy, "Sorry, I cannot hire you, your social security number is not valid."  He say's it is his number - I say, "Sorry, I can't verify that,' and We did not hire the individual.  I documented the whole process.  Thanks for the feedback."

Unbeknownst to many agricultural employers, the IRCA anti-discrimination provisions apply to a "protected class" consisting only of citizens and work-authorized aliens.

Now, it's very important to note that this reader did not use SSA's "Enumeration Verification Service" as a screening tool for all applicants.  That practice could, indeed, lead to "hot water" for an employer.

The reader, in my judgement, is certainly justified in rejecting the SSN card.  Furthermore, the discovery that the name-number does not match up with SSA's records, along with the individual's stated inability to sign his name, castes major doubts about this individual's work authorization and/or identity, and this employer would be "irresponsible" in "hiring" him.

Perhaps the only way out is to say "you're hired, but you're immediately suspended" until the SSN issue is straightened out.  "We don't want to be issuing paychecks against an erroneous social security number."

With this post, I'm also contacting the INS that is "at the present time experiencing an unusually high volume of calls" at  office.business.liaison@usdoj.gov   Let's see what they say.

Subsequently, the INS sent me Employer Information Bulletin "About Employment Eligibility Verificaiton".
 

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A reader wrote ...

"Steve

I've misplaced the phone number that allows you to check up to 25 names and social security numbers. I know you gave it out before - but when I dial into the SS Admin 800 number - it has a ba-zillion options (ee-gad).  Thanks!"

Try (800) 772-6270.  They will handle up to 5 names and social security numbers at time.  With more, you can keep calling them back.

SSN and name verification is coming to the Internet.  Bill Brees said "we now expect to make Internet name/SSN verification available on our web site next Spring."

Bill Brees also wrote:

Steve,

Do you subscribe to our newsletter?

Just telling as many people as I can that SSA has an e-News edition for employers this week you  might find interesting and helpful at this busy year-end time.

Go to http://www.ssa.gov/enews/enewswage121200.htm
 

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"Steve,

A local strawberry grower was recently visited by Cal/OSHA and was told that foremen and supervisors must have (first aid) safety and CPR instruction once a year.  When asked for the regulation the inspector could not cite it, but insisted it was a rule. What is your understanding?"

Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Order 3400 requires all employers, regardless of business size, to have a person or persons adequately trained to render first aid in the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in the near proximity to the workplace.  "Training shall to equal to that of the American Red Cross or the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration."

Also, Safety Order 3439 says, in part, "there shall be at least one employee for every 20 employees at any remote location with training for the administration of emergency first aid."  Near proximity or remote location are not defined in regulations.  One Cal/OSHA citation involved a work crew close to 15 minutes from a medical facility (APMP Newsletter, September 1990).

A full day of American Red Cross training earns a general first aid card (good for 3 years) and CPR card (good for one year).  Stand alone (adult) CPR training is about 3 hours, according to an American Red Cross Representative in Fresno.  Sometimes, the organization can field instructors in Spanish.  Over the past decade the cost has risen from $35 to $40 per person.

"Steve,

One minor correction - The Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration (MESA) in the US Department of Interior is no longer.  It is now the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in the US Department of Labor."
 

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California employers must assure employees who handle pesticides have been trained according to sections of Title 3 CCR, Subchapter 3 “Pesticide Worker Safety." One of the requirements in revised Section 6724 is that the training for each pesticide or chemically similar group must cover, among other things, "environmental concerns such as drift, runoff, and wildlife hazards."

Two major studies provide some analysis of pesticide concentrations in surface and ground water in California's San Joaquin Valley; “Water Quality in the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California, 1992-95,” Circular 1159, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), at  http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/circ1159/ and “Water Woes,” by Teresa M. Olle, Toxic Policy Advocate, Staff Attorney for the 60,000 member California Public Interest Research Group Charitable Trust (www.calpirg.org). Here's excerpts.

The USGS Study ... Although USEPA drinking-water standards were not exceeded, criteria for the protection of freshwater aquatic life were exceeded in 37 percent of the stream samples.  Concentrations of seven pesticides exceeded criteria for aquatic life; these are the herbicides diuron and trifluralin; and the insecticides azinphos-methel, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion.  “Forty percent of these exceedances are attributed solely to diazinon,” the USGS writers said.

The USGS cautioned “over half of the pesticides detected have no established aquatic-life criteria, and the potential for these compounds to induce toxicity, endocrine disruption, or impaired immune response is not well known.”

Studies done in the 1970s and 1980s documented DDT and organochlorine contamination of both stream bed sediments and aquatic organisms in the San Joaquin River system.  Recent concentrations in tissue and sediment at the west-side sites were among the highest encountered at NAWQA (U.S.) Study Units.

Bed-sediment concentrations of these organochlorine compounds appeared similar to historical data, but the historical data were collected using different methods, making direct comparisons difficult.

“Though these insecticide concentrations might be declining, they may adversely impact aquatic  organisms, and hence other wildlife (further up the food chain), in the San Joaquin Valley for years to come,” USGS researchers noted.  Generally, loads of total DDT were substantially greater in samples collected during winter runoff compared with samples collected during irrigation season, indicating runoff from winter storms will continue to deliver a significant load of sediment-bound organochlorine insecticides to the San Joaquin River for an indeterminate amount of time, “even if irrigation-induced soil erosion is reduced.”

Organophosphates in the San Joaquin River Basin ... The organophosphate insecticide diazinon is used for many agricultural and urban applications.  The main agricultural application in the San Joaquin River Basin occurs during the winter to control wood-boring insects in dormant almond orchards.  This application coincides with the rainy season.

Diazinon concentrations during winter storm runoff (during January and February) in Orestimba Creek, and in the Merced, Tuolumne, and San Joaquin Rivers frequently exceeded 0.35 ug/L (microgram per liter, or part per billion), a concentration shown to be acutely toxic to water fleas.  The affect on other organisms is largely unknown.

Transport of chlorpyrifos, diazinon, metolachlor, napropamide, and simazine was greater from agricultural areas than from urban areas (within this study area).  Transport of DCPA was about the same from agricultural and urban areas.

In most cases, the occurrence and relative concentrations of pesticides in storm runoff from agricultural and urban areas were related to pesticide applications.  Some pesticides detected frequently, and in relatively high concentrations, in the storm drains did not relate to reported use.  However, unlike agricultural use, reporting of pesticide use in urban areas is incomplete and only includes use by licensed pest control operators.

The Recent CALPIRG Study ... Based on surface water studies conducted principally by the CA Department of Pesticide Regulation http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/surfwatr/surfdata.htm, the California Public Interest Research Group concludes “pesticide contamination is widespread in California's waterways.”

"From over 92,000 water-sampling tests from 133 locations on California creeks, rivers, drainage basins, and sloughs, located primarily in the Central Valley, pesticide traces were detected in 8,500 (9%).

Tests for (151) specific active ingredients varied in number of samples for each  in the data base used.  The top five most frequently detected pesticides were diuron (carcinogen, groundwater contaminant) 58%, diazinon (nerve toxin, potential groundwater contaminant) 48%, simazine (endocrine disrupter, groundwater contaminant) 44%, chlorpyrifos (endocrine disrupter, nerve toxin) 27%, and molinate (nerve toxin, potential groundwater contaminant) 23%.

Criteria for Protection of Aquatic Life ... One tool for protecting aquatic organisms from the adverse effects of pesticides, CALPIRG notes, is setting maximum allowable concentrations of pesticides in water.  These numeric objectives are often called “criteria for protection of aquatic life.”  Both acute and chronic criteria exist.  Acute criteria provide limits for a high level, one-time exposure.  Chronic criteria provide the maximum allowable concentration assuming repeated long-term exposure.

Several organizations have developed aquatic life criteria for pesticides, including the U.S.E.P.A. http://www.epa.gov/ecotox, the USGS, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, and the California Department of Fish and Game, all of which were used by CALPIRG analysts.  Although these criteria are not enforceable standards, comparing pesticide concentrations detected in California surface waters to these recognized criteria “produces a striking overall picture of the health of California's aquatic ecosystems,” according to the CALPIRG report.

Overall, 48% of positive detections (4,068) exceeded some aquatic life criteria.  All of the most frequently detected pesticides exceeded aquatic life criteria, two with high frequency; diazinon (used often on prunes and almonds) 98% and chlorpyrifos (generally used in cotton and orange production) 92%.

What, in part, does CALPIRG recommend to the CA Department of Pesticide Regulation?  “Begin immediate phase-out of diazinon and chlorpyrifos to stop the toxic flows in California surface waters.”

What does CALPIRG recommend to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board?  “To prevent the further degradation of California's waterways, both for the restoration of a healthy ecosystem and the maintenance of safe drinking water sources, agricultural entities that apply pesticides should be required to monitor their discharges into nearby waterways and apply for permits to discharge pesticides into our creeks, rivers, lakes and estuaries.”
 

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A Modesto dairyman asked if a month's interest was payable on a terminated employees accrued vacation time.  Not that I can see.  Just pay the employee the accrued amount.

Labor Code Section 227.3.  Unless otherwise provided by a collective-bargaining agreement, whenever a contract of employment or employer policy provides for paid vacations, and an employee is terminated without having taken off his vested vacation time, all vested vacation shall be paid to him as wages at his final rate in accordance with such contract of employment or employer policy respecting eligibility or time served; provided, however, that an employment contract or employer policy shall not provide for forfeiture of vested vacation time upon termination.  The Labor Commissioner or a designated representative, in the resolution of any dispute with regard to vested vacation time, shall apply the principles of equity and fairness.

Another local farmer asked if there were looming (California) deadlines related to retrofitting old diesel engines (tractors, irrigation pumps).  He thought he heard "something" about that on an early-morning farm show.

Relax, I said.  Currently, off-road agriculture (or construction) equipment under 175 h.p. (horsepower) is exempt from any retrofitting requirements.

A reader replied:

"Steve,
Regarding the Diesel retro-fit, the staff at the California Air Resources Board are currently looking at ways of removing the 175 h.p. exemption.  In a presentation by Peter Venturini, County Farm Bureau managers were assured that they would look at only logical, cost effective retrofits.

This is an excerpt from the press release that the ARB issued.  "This is an ambitious but necessary plan to reduce the public's exposure to harmful diesel exhaust," said California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Winston Hickox.  "As the ARB proceeds with specific regulations, I have communicated my desire that they look for solutions that properly balance the protection of public health with a sense of the economic consequence."

"From what has been talked about, the cost of retro-fitting a diesel engine will cost between $30-$50/horsepower.  I hope this helps"
 

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-- Ag-busnet ... An attorney replied to my recent post about an employee who wanted his employer to take out $25 a week as a "savings plan."

"Your reader should consider following the approach outlined in California Labor Code section 213, subdivision (d), which states:  Nothing contained in Section 212 [which states unacceptable wage-payment methods] shall: (d) Prohibit an employer from depositing wages due or to become due or an advance on wages to be earned in an account in any bank, savings and loan association or credit union of the employee's choice in this state, provided the employee has voluntarily authorized such deposit. If an employer discharges an employee or the employee quits such voluntary authorization for deposit shall be deemed terminated and the provisions of this article relating to payment of wages upon termination of employment shall apply."

Another reader had these greetings:

"If the employee sets up the savings account, you as an employer could very possibly do direct deposit activities on behalf of the employee.  Direct deposit information is available at local banks.  Your local bank will have more information on this employee benefit and the particulars of this type of account.

I personally feel that encouraging savings plans for employees is a good practice.  It can save on payroll advance requests (which can be touchy for a variety of reasons) and basically helps the employee help themselves in administration of finances.

If it becomes a problem that several employees wish to set up savings programs at a wide variety of institutions, that could become cumbersome or costly.  However, if there are only one or two institutions that are available, it may not be so bad.

As with all payroll situations, keeping good and accurate records would be key to making such a program a success.  Hope this helps.

Here's another reader's suggestion on farm worker savings ... perhaps the most "streamlined."

"Another option is to offer workers the option of Electronic Banking of their pay check.  The Bank or Credit Union can then direct some portion of the deposit into a separate savings account in the amount the worker designates."
 

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