Articles for November 2006 States, Towns Pass Immigration Laws - several state and local governments have passed new—and potentially unconstitutional—laws designed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs.…
States, Towns Pass Immigration Laws Frustrated by what has been seen as the federal government's failure to enforce existing and enact new immigration laws, several state and local governments have passed new—and potentially unconstitutional—laws designed to make it harder for illegal immigrants to get jobs Among the state and local governments passing strict new measures are Colorado, Georgia, and the city of Hazleton, PA. The first of Colorado's laws, which went into effect in early August, requires government contractors to participate in the federal Basic Pilot Program, an electronic database that permits employers to validate the work authorization of job candidates. Colorado's other major initiative, which goes into effect Jan. 1, requires employers to retain copies of employees' work documents and affirm that they have not knowingly hired an illegal alien or falsified an employee's work documents. Georgia's law, which also becomes effective in 2007, imposes criminal sanctions for trafficking "for labor servitude." Like the Colorado measure, it requires government contractors, including staffing firms, to participate in the Basic Pilot Program to validate all candidates for employment. The Hazleton ordinance would have suspended the license of any business that employs illegal immigrants. Critics of these measures contend that they violate the supremacy clause of the Constitution by attempting to regulate immigration, which is a federal matter. Earlier this month, the Hazleton ordinance was challenged in court. Challenges in Colorado and Georgia are likely to follow. Source: Stephen Dwyer, American Staffing Association - Back to Top -
California Health Mandate Vetoed In the latest development regarding fair share health care legislation, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have required any employer with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8% of their total payroll on health coverage for their workers or contribute to a state fund to cover various health care programs. The vote in favor of the bill fell short of that needed to override the veto. In his veto message, Gov. Schwarzenegger said that "singling out large employers and requiring them to spend an arbitrary amount on health care does nothing to lower costs or guarantee that even one more person has health care coverage." This is not the first time the California legislature has passed employer mandated health insurance laws. In 2002, former Gov. Gray Davis signed into law SB 2, which would have required large employers to buy health insurance for their employees. Before the law went into effect, however, a statewide referendum on the law was defeated, effectively repealing the law. During the 2006 legislative session now winding down, 28 states have introduced health insurance mandates. In 21 states, fair share proposals have been defeated, while four states—New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan—still have bills pending. Massachusetts and Vermont passed comprehensive universal health insurance laws. Maryland passed a fair share law that applies to employers with 10,000 or more. Source: Toby Malara, American Staffing Association - Back to Top -
Staffing Customers Seek Flexibility Hiring professionals ranked flexibility as the greatest benefit of engaging temporary and contract labor, according to the Contract Labor Benchmark Report by research firm Aberdeen Group. This supports the findings of the ASA 2004 staffing customer survey, in which nine out of 10 customers said that staffing companies offer flexibility so businesses can keep fully staffed during busy times. Flexibility (cited by 70% of survey respondents), the ability to hire people with specialized skills (66%), and the deployment of workers for project-oriented work (41%) are motivating companies to hire more temporary and contract labor, according to the Aberdeen report: "More than half of the respondents indicate that their enterprise plans budget increases to increase their use of contract labor," and "12% plan for this growth to be greater than 10% in the next 12 months." Much of this growth will come in high-skill occupations. According to the report, 59% of positions staffed with temporary and contract workers are highly technical. Survey participants also reported that workers in information technology were most in demand (20%), followed by office–clerical (19%), and professional (14%) employees. Job-matching (55%) outranked price (40%) as the key driver in choosing a staffing firm. "Today, most enterprises will pay higher rates to find a particular skill set that helps them fill temporary staffing requisitions on time to meet an important deadline," reported Aberdeen Group. To access the Contract Labor Benchmark Report, visit aberdeen.com. Source: Reem El-Khatib, American Staffing Association - Back to Top - In a pinch for temporary personnel? order staff online By registering with www.CareersUSA.com, you can request staff conveniently from your computer desktop any time of the day. Be sure to bookmark our website so you can easily access industry-specific surveys that offer real-time statistics on interesting employment topics. Also, you’ll find archived issues of HIREWIRE News. Visit www.CareersUSA.com today for more information. - Back to Top -
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