The H-2B Workforce Coalition released the following statement today:

H-2B WORKFORCE COALITION LAUDS INTRODUCTION OF BIPARTISAN SENATE BILL TO REFORM H-2B VISA PROGRAM, PROVIDE CERTAINTY FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Washington, D.C. – November 2, 2015 – The H-2B Workforce Coalition, an alliance of more than 40 various industry associations focused on protecting American workers by ensuring American small and seasonal employers have access to legal short-term temporary employees during peak business periods, today issued the following statement supporting S. 2525, the Save our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act, which was introduced by Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Mark Warner (D-VA).  The legislation is designed to help seasonal employers better navigate the H-2B temporary non-agricultural visa program and increase certainty for small businesses by allowing seasonal employers to better prepare for fluctuations in demand.

H-2B legislation – Save our Small & Seasonal Business Act of 2015 -- was introduced last night by a bipartisan group of Senators. Please call both Senator Bennet and Gardner and ask for their support. (To view or download the act, click here.)

Bennet’s office told ALCC this morning in a phone call that the calls and emails you all sent last Friday was the push they used to sign on to the Perez letter. Let’s see if it works again!

If you are looking to replace trees lost in last fall’s severe freeze, horticulturists at CSU have 8 cold-hardy suggestions that survived the rapid temperature changes of November 2014. During several years of observation by the CSU team, all 8 trees have proven reliable at elevations of 4,000 to 6,000 ft. Most have multiple seasons of interest and some appear to be pest and disease free.

During National Association of Landscape Professionals’ annual LANDSCAPES conference last week in Louisville, 3 ALCC member firms received top NALP landscape awards and ALCC’s Kristen Fefes, CAE was recognized by Lawn & Landscape magazine for her exceptional leadership within the industry. 

Looking for new employees? Sometimes the best resource is your current workforce.

According to the Jobvite Index, while employee referrals generated less than 7% of applications, they resulted in 40% of new hires. Those new employees were hired more quickly than those through other methods, and they tended to stay with the company longer—47% stay longer than three years.

Employers face a number of challenges when it comes to compliance with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). One element of the program, to be rolled out in 2018, is the so-called “Cadillac tax.” Created as a disincentive to employers who offer exceptionally robust healthcare plans, the Cadillac tax is an excise tax on those expensive plans. Employer contributions to employee insurance premiums are currently tax-free. When the high cost employer-sponsored health coverage excise tax goes into effect, the employer contribution will be subject to a 40% tax.

A bi-partisan letter was sent to the EPA Administrator regarding the use of crumb rubber in sports fields. Representatives from the green industry, including the Irrigation Association, worked with the Congressional Energy & Commerce Committee to ask the EPA for answers related to the safety of crumb rubber used in synthetic turf fields.

We received the following email today from the H-2B workforce coalition. We ask you to take action TODAY by contacting Senator Bennet's office at (202) 224-5852 or at www.bennet.senate.gov/?p=contact. Ask him to sign the letters from Burr, Mikulski, Tillis, and Warner (Senator Gardener has already signed them). The deadline is 2:00 PM Mountain time (5:00 PM Eastern time), so please be sure to make your voice heard before the end of the day.

You can also tweet your support to @SenBennetCO and follow ALCC at @COGreenNOW for sample tweets.

The Colorado Division of Labor has issued new FAQs and an advisory bulletin to help clarify the new regulations regarding payment of unused vacation time.

While unused vacation time pay must be paid when an employee is separated, "use it or lose it" policies may be permitted for current employees. View the new FAQs at the Colorado web site. 

You may also view or download a pdf of advisory bulletins, including information on vacation pay, at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/Advisory%20Bulletins.pdf. 

Previously on the LAB:
New vacation time rule for Colorado employers