Britt Wood, CEO, and Andrew Bray, vice president, government relations, of the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP), join LM Senior Editor Abby Hart to discuss the latest on the 2020 U.S. election and what the results could mean for the landscape industry. Stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Wood and Bray on the Jan. 5 Senate runoff election... read more
As expected, the annual statutory cap of 66,000 H-2B visas for the federal fiscal year 2019-2020 was reached on Feb. 18. This means that all for H-2B visas received after that date for a start date before Oct. 1 will be rejected by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. The statutory cap was reached at about this same time last... read more
Last December, Congress approved an additional 65,000 H-2B visas above the statutory limit of 66,000, subject, however, to the approval of the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. H-2B advocates are now turning their efforts to convince acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to release the full complement of visas authorized by Congress. Landscape contractors largest H-2B users... read more
The controversial federal E-Verify system may already be required for landscape contractors in your state. If not, it may be coming soon. E-Verify is a federal, web-based electronic system that verifies the eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. Operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the system verifies the identity and employment eligibility of employees... read more
In the early 2000s, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) developed a list of seven target industries on which to concentrate its compliance and enforcement efforts. At the top of that list were landscape contractors. OSHA chose these seven target industries based upon their high incidence of severe work-related injuries and workdays lost due to those injuries. Industry... read more
President Trump has made immigration enforcement the centerpiece of his administration. This enforcement thrust has increased the pressure on the landscape contracting industry to be vigilant in following federal rules regarding employee work authorization documentation. The landscape contracting industry has one of the highest proportions of unauthorized foreign workers in its workforce at 21 percent in 2014, according to the... read more
