Landscape contractors in 21 states and 26 counties and cities will see the hourly wage that they must pay their workers rise as of Jan. 1 of this year. In addition, four states and 23 local governments will increase their minimum wages sometime in 2020 after Jan. 1. With federal efforts to raise the minimum wage nationally stalled in Congress,... read more
As an occupation, landscape contracting employees run one of the highest risks for getting Lyme disease. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) identifies landscape workers as being among the 10 highest risk occupations due to their work in and around prime deer tick habitats. Help may be on the Way Recently, scientists from the publicly funded nonprofit... 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
While the H-2B guest worker program used by many landscape contractors had its best year since 2008, program advocates find themselves once again engaged in the annual battle to convince Congress to allocate more visas to the scant 66,000 visas locked into the enabling statute. Little passes Congress Because little legislation has passed Congress to be sent on to the... 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
For those of you who have seen the Bill Murray classic movie, “Groundhog Day,” the H-2B saga seems reminiscent. As part of the deal to end the partial shutdown of the federal government, H-2B advocates in Washington secured language in the bipartisan compromise appropriations bill to allow the secretary of homeland security, in consultation with the secretary of labor, to... read more
