NILC Statement on Department of Labor Regulations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 10, 2012

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR STRENGTHENS PROTECTIONS FOR ALL

Recently Released Regulations Create Protections for Guest Workers,
Level Playing Field for U.S. Workers

WASHINGTON, DC — The United States Department of Labor (DOL) today released a comprehensive set of H-2B guest worker regulations to protect all workers from discrimination, retaliation, and abusive practices. These regulations come in light of numerous news reports of egregious behavior on behalf of major employers that imported workers and subjected them to abusive labor practices. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“Today’s announced regulations right a grievous wrong in too many low wage workplaces. For too long, we’ve seen abusive employers that have imported foreign workers, often under false pretenses, forced them to work in subhuman conditions, and quashed any attempt to organize. These regulations remove the perverse incentive to abuse immigrant guest workers by raising the floor for all workers, guest workers and citizen workers alike. The National Immigration Law Center applauds the Department of Labor for recognizing that current labor practices by employers, job contractors, and temp agencies actually undercut all workers’ abilities to labor free from fear or abuse. These regulations bring us closer toward achieving a work place in which people can work with the expectation that they will be treated fairly, and that if they are not, they will be able to assert their rights.”

For more information about the proposed regulations, visit http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H2BFinalRule/index.htm.

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