University
of CaliforniaUniversity
of CaliforniaSteve's Selected Notes from Ag-Busnet -- April-May 2000
Employers Play a Vital Role in Child Support
(May 30, 2000)
On May 30, 2000, one hundred thirty attended the "sold out" 2000 Employer Conference in Visalia, sponsored by the Tulare County District Attorney's Family Support Division. Keynote speaker was Savannagh Kacey of the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement. Agricultural employers were well represented, and active in the "Questions & Answers" session. Printed material included a blizzard of sample letters and forms.
Tulare County issues about 600 new Wage Assignment Orders related to child support each month. Employers who receive a Notice of Wage and Earnings Assignment regarding a particular employee have up to 10 days to begin withholding money from the employee's net disposable earnings. A copy of the order must also be given to the employee within 10 days of its receipt.
Child support withholding takes priority over all other attachments, and can not exceed 50% of the net disposable earnings. Employers are permitted to deduct $1 from the employee's earnings as a processing fee and can combine payment for several employees with income withholding notices, but must identify each payment by the name of the employee, social security number, case number, the amount, date of collection (pay date), the Absent Parent's Participant Number, and if new, "File # 52110."
If the employee quits (or is laid off or terminated), the employer must notify the County Family Support Division no later than the date of the next payment, and must provide the employee's last known address and, if known, the name and address of the new employer of the former employee. For further information, California employers may call 1-800-952-5253, in addition to the local number generally included with notices.
Are Busted Contractors on Some Current Contractors' Payrolls?
(May 17, 2000)
A contractor reader and I seek information concerning one of the forms contained in the California farm labor contractor licensing application package. It is the white single-page "Attention Farm Labor Contractor Applicant," that "replaces Question #21 on the farm labor contractor application." The form was added (10/97) "in response to your concerns and suggestions" (presumably from currently licensed contractors, maybe others).
The Department of Labor Standards Enforcement seeks to learn the "full name and residence" of "all individuals who have, at any time, applied for a state farm labor contractor license and were denied that license, or who have been, at any time, licensed by the state as a farm labor contractor and will be employed by you to perform any of the following: supervise, recruit, solicit, hire, furnish, employ, pay, transport or otherwise direct or measure the work of agricultural employees. Secondly, provide the State of California farm labor contractor (FLC) number, if applicable."
Why? Would a farm labor contractor violate any section of the Labor Code by employing someone (to do the above leg work) who has a lapsed, suspended, or revoked farm labor contractor license? Would the employee be sanctioned in any way for operating "unlicensed?" Or are the questions simply in response to our concerns and suggestions?
Agencies Team to Produce Worker Transportation Safety Video
(May 17, 2000)
Produced jointly by UC Cooperative Extension and the California Department of Education, "with the cooperation of Steve Sutter, UC Area Personnel Management Farm Advisor," is a new video "Farm Labor Bus Inspection" (English followed by Spanish - 23 minutes each). Project funding came from the UC Agricultural Personnel Management Program.
The video should be of particular interest to employers and their drivers who transport workers in farm labor buses, state-certified farm labor vehicle driver instructors, and California Highway Patrol personnel inspecting farm labor buses, or enforcing Vehicle Code provisions related to farm labor vehicle safety.
The video, "simulating" a complete farm labor bus safety inspection, features Javier Rodriguez, Farm Labor Vehicle Driver Instructor, and Officer David Diaz, Jr., California Highway Patrol. The bus, instructor, and production site were provided as a courtesy by D'Arrigo Bros. Co. of California.
A special thanks from this project "manager" to our farming cooperator, and those who did the work and provided support behind the scenes: the California Department of Education's Instructor/Coordinators Jim Garrity and Lee Craw, their Supervisor John Green, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.
Mike Poe and Ray Lucas provided quality videography and digital video editing at ANR Communications Services, University of California, and Spanish translation and narration was provided by Myriam Grajales-Hall and Alberto Hauffen at UC Riverside.
For ordering instructions and nominal cost, contact John Green, Supervisor, Office of School Transportation, 3500 Reed Avenue, West Sacramento, CA 95605 (916) 375-7108.
Valley Agriculture Expresses Labor Concerns to EDD
(May 11, 2000)
A May 10 "Agricultural Subcommittee follow-up meeting to the Governor's Central Valley Economic Summit," at the Fresno County Farm Bureau, featured Director Michael Bernick, Employment Development Department, to talk about Job Service post-Summit activities -- and to hear local concerns. Assisting him were Robert Garcia, Deputy Director, Diego Haro, Division Chief, and Diane Padilla, EDD Business Consultant. I was honored to be among those invited to attend.
Director Bernick pointed to the addition of 28 EDD ag specialists to work with growers, several projects to study sharing the agricultural work force among crops, keeping workers in agriculture through skills training and upward job mobility, and creation of the California Agricultural Employment Forum as actions that have followed the Summit. Then he opened for questions.
One grower said his local EDD had refused to send agricultural workers to prune grapes because they "were not trained in pruning;" something he would have himself given for half a day. "That's not agency policy," Director Bernick replied. He would look into it.
A farm labor contractor (who can't find enough workers over the summer months) said he had received a letter from EDD saying "after thorough investigation" his former worker was eligible for unemployment benefits; "there was no work available." This was a worker the FLC was trying to recall for additional work. Director Bernick will also look into his case.
Issues then seesawed between labor supply (shortage) and false social security numbers and "rampant" fraudulent unemployment benefits collection for the balance of the hour meeting.
A grower asked "What's EDD going to do to help us (meet critical labor needs mid-August to mid-October)?" "Roughly the same kinds of things we have done in the past to help meet the peak labor needs (worker and employer outreach)," said Garcia. But he noted very few ag job orders are currently placed with EDD, and encouraged more participation by growers and contractors in EDD's job order service, and more employer job needs information sharing with EDD.
Another grower said a local EDD representative told her "no one wants that kind of work." She also described "double dipping" to the Director -- a worker collecting UI, then going down the street to take up a job under a different name and social security number. I heard a grower comment "that's been happening for 20 years."
The sole contractor asked, "don't you folks know social security numbers never begin with the number 9?"
They must now. The EDD, we learned, is finishing up the process of (electronically) cross-checking social security numbers (SSNs) and names of the millions of California employees reported on quarterly UI reports with the Social Security Administration. The agency will advise employers of discrepancies (as does SSA), and when workers apply for unemployment benefits, "we'll be verifying" the SSN, assured Director Bernick.
Immigration Control Makes the News
(May 10, 2000)
The Los Angeles Times (Sunday 4/30/00) headlined front-page "Border War on Crime Overwhelms Courtrooms." Following are excerpts. Times Staff Writer was Richard Serrano.
Six years ago, Washington poured millions into expanding federal law enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce crime, cut drug trafficking, and stem illegal immigration. But today, while an army of new federal agents has sent arrest rates soaring, the legal system that must prosecute, judge and sentence those taken into custody is "on the verge of collapse."
Without question the federal "police presence" along the Southwest border has risen sharply since 1994. The number of INS officers grew by 93%. The Drug Enforcement Administration expanded border staff 155%. The U.S. Border Patrol alone added 5,000 officers, doubling its ranks in 5 years. Overall, arrests have soared 125%. Immigration prosecutions have jumped fivefold, and now top drug prosecutions.
"As federal jails grow more crowded, marshals haul prisoners on long trips through rural communities to jails hundreds of miles from the border. The officers worry that an escape attempt or riot could await them down the road," reports Serrano. The "overwhelmed" Southwest border court districts now handle a quarter of all federal criminal filings in the nation.
"That (enforcement) part of the six-year crackdown seems to have worked," Serrano wrote. The problem is the logjam after prisoners are arrested and cases are filed. "We're getting killed here," says Chief Deputy Marshall James Sullivan in San Diego, where prosecutor caseloads have tripled since 1994. "Hello. We need some help."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August Gribbin, writing for The Washington Times (5/04/00) reported the General Accounting Office had found "alien smuggling is a significant and growing problem" in her article "INS problems cited as aiding alien-smuggling operations - Some Illegals are criminals or terrorists, GAO says." The GAO reported that foreigners frequently are being infiltrated into the United States "as part of a criminal or terrorist enterprise that can pose a serious threat to U.S. national security." The agency charged that "without improvements in its investigations and intelligence programs, INS' anti-smuggling efforts will continue to be hampered in the face of the growing tide of aliens entering the United States."
To cope with the threat, the INS has boosted the number of agents working anti-smuggling cases to 276, but the GAO said the INS effort "was not commensurate with the increase in the growth of alien smuggling.
The number of smuggled aliens caught entering the country has almost doubled in the past two years, reaching just under one quarter million last year -- the year INS arrested 4,100 smugglers, prosecuted 2,000 and convicted 1,220. "Smuggling groups are aided by high-ranking but corrupt government officials, police, airline personnel and immigration agents in such countries as Russia and China," says GAO's report.
Among a number of specific faults, the GAO, Congress' investigative arm, found the INS lacks "any agency wide, automated case tracking and management system" and handicaps itself by failing "to take advantage of advances in electronic information processing."
What to Look for in Hiring a Farm Labor Contractor
(May 2, 2000)
A young El Dorado County vineyard management company representative called to say he wanted to hire a work force through a farm labor contractor, and said "we're concerned about liability."
Step one, I advised him, is to see if the contractor has a STATE FLC license (as required by Labor Code section 1695.7). "Let's see," he said, "I've got his business card right here. It says License # C09682890K00R." That, I said, sounds like a FEDERAL registration number (the 1,136 state FLC licences run from 0001 to 6001). Sure enough, I checked with U.S. Wage and Hour and learned the registration was valid, and good until November 30, 2000. What the officer couldn't determine for sure, though, was whether the registrant was an FLC or an FLC employee.
Realizing all it takes to get a federal FLC registration are "fingerprints and a pulse" (my words), I searched the State FLC licensee list, and found the contractor, whose state license is valid through November 10, 2000. You can also call (415) 703-4854 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) to verify a State FLC license.
Step two is to have the contractor provide you with a current certificate of (workers compensation) insurance.
Step three is to require the contractor to furnish copies of all payroll records for each worker that works on your establishment (as required by 29 CFR 500.60). You should be able to see, in addition to the worker's name, permanent address, and social security number: (1) the basis on which wages are paid; (2) the number of piece work units earned, if paid on a piece rate; (3) the number of hours worked; (4) the total pay period (generally weekly) earnings; (5) the specific sums withheld and the purpose of each sum withheld; and (6) the net pay (29 CFR 500.80). U.S. Wage and Hour expects you to preserve these records for three years.
Others will suggest further steps, but I consider these to be the top three.
Minimizing Hazardous Microbes in Produce Requires
-- in Part -- Worker Training
(May 22, 2000)
The USDA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables In Brief" is online and has links to the full text (10/98) in English, Spanish, and other languages. Microorganisms includes yeasts, molds, bacteria, protozoa, helminths (worms), and viruses. Sometimes the term "microbe" is used instead of "microorganism."
The Guide provides general, broad-based voluntary guidance that may be applied, as appropriate, to individual operations. The Guide is intended to assist domestic and foreign growers, packers, and shippers of unprocessed or minimally processed (raw) fresh fruits and vegetables by increasing awareness of potential hazards, and provide suggestions for practices to minimize these hazards, but does not impose any new regulation or supercede existing laws or regulations.
"Worker hygiene and sanitation practices in production, harvesting, sorting, packing, and transport play a critical role in minimizing the potential for microbial contamination of fresh produce," says the Guide. All employees should have a working knowledge of basic sanitation and hygiene principles. The level of understanding needed will vary by the type of operation, task, and assigned responsibilities.
Producers should develop a sanitation training program for employees. "Teach all employees the importance of using toilet facilities," advises the Guide, and provide an adequate supply of toilet paper. The more accessible the facilities, the greater the likelihood they will be used. Workers should have the opportunity to use the facilities when they need to, not only when they are on break. This helps reduce the incidence of workers in the field or outside packing areas relieving themselves elsewhere (such as in fields).
When providing training for employees, consider the parts of field and fixed facility OSHA standards "that are applicable to worker health and training." California's field sanitation standard is tailored closely to the federal standard.
Depending on the situation, formal presentations, one-on-one instruction, or demonstrations (example, handwashing) may be appropriate. Depending on the workers' job requirements, periodic refresher or follow-up training sessions may be needed.
Don't assume workers know how to wash their hands properly. Teach proper handwashing techniques which include:
Thorough handwashing before commencing work with produce and after using the toilet is very important. Handwashing stations should be equipped with "a basin, container, or outlet, adequate supply of potable water, liquid soap, sanitary hand drying devices (such as disposable paper towels), and a waste container." Toilets and handwashing stations, whether attached to the toilet facility or located near it, should be cleaned regularly. "Containers used to transport or store water for handwashing should, on a routine basis, be emptied and thoroughly cleaned, sanitized, and refilled with potable water," recommends the Guide.
Operators should also instruct employees to report any "active case of illness" to their supervisor before beginning work. Supervisors should be familiar with symptoms of infectious diseases so that if they're evident, they can take appropriate steps. Diarrhea, fever, and vomiting are symptoms of various pathogens occasionally transmitted by food contaminated by infected employees. Workers with such symptoms should not work with fresh produce or the sorting and packing equipment in the packing facility.
A boil or infected wound "that is open or draining located on parts of the body that might have contact with produce or produce harvesting, sorting, or packing equipment, increases the risk of contaminating fresh produce (and perhaps other employees)." If a worker has a lesion that can't be effectively covered in such a way to prevent contact with fresh produce or related equipment, that employee should not work.
Footnote: The USDA also points operators to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 21, Section 110.10 (21 CFR 110.10) that prescribes worker health and hygienic practices within the GMPs (good manufacturing practices) in the manufacturing, packing, or holding of human food. "The standards in this section should be considered when establishing hygienic practices appropriate for the agricultural environment (field, packing facility, and transport operations)."
Get these 2 pages by clicking here. Once there, "Retrieve CFR sections by citation." In the "Title" box put 21, then 110 in the "Part" box, and then 10 as "Section." Click "Retrieve."
DPR Changes Mailing Address
(April 25, 2000)
Those California farm labor contractors and others reordering a supply of voluntary field worker pesticide training verification "blue cards," should note the new mailing address for requests is: Department of Pesticide Regulation, Pesticide Enforcement Branch, 830 K Street, Room 401, Sacramento, CA 95814-5624.