{"id":13305,"date":"2023-02-19T00:02:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T08:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/osha-to-issue-special-visas-to-immigrant-workers-during-criminal-investigations\/"},"modified":"2023-02-19T00:02:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T08:02:21","slug":"osha-to-issue-special-visas-to-immigrant-workers-during-criminal-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/osha-to-issue-special-visas-to-immigrant-workers-during-criminal-investigations\/","title":{"rendered":"OSHA to issue special visas to immigrant workers during criminal investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/files\/membership-default-internal\/\" class=\"memberhide\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/01\/20220718_175041000_iOS.jpg\" alt=\"-\"><\/a><br\/><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The U.S. Department of Labor will give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the authority to issue special visa certificates to noncitizen workers at worksites where certain criminal activities are being investigated, the federal agency said <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/osha\/osha20230213-1\" target=\"_blank\">in a Feb. 13 notice<\/a>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Effective March 30, OSHA will be able to issue <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/agencies\/whd\/immigration\/u-t-visa\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;U visas&#8221; and &#8220;T visas&#8221;<\/a> during its workplace safety investigations if workers are victims of specific criminal activities, such as manslaughter, trafficking, extortion, felonious assault, forced labor and obstruction of justice, to allow them to assist law enforcement, DOL said. U nonimmigrant visas are granted to victims of qualifying criminal activities who have experienced physical or mental abuse, while T nonimmigrant visas are issued to victims of human trafficking.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWorkers in the U.S. need to feel empowered and able to trust OSHA and the U.S. Department of Labor enough to voice their concerns about workplace safety regardless of their immigration status and fears of retaliation,\u201d Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker said in the notice. \u201cBy enabling OSHA to issue U and T visa certifications, we will be empowering some of our economy\u2019s most vulnerable workers to tell us if their jobs are jeopardizing their safety and health, and that of their co-workers, and to support our enforcement efforts.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p>OSHA\u2019s new authority is the latest in a series of federal actions intended to protect immigrant workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 13 <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdive.com\/news\/new-dhs-policy-a-win-for-undocumented-workers\/640680\/\" target=\"_blank\">announced a policy<\/a> that grants \u201cnoncitizen workers who are victims of, or witnesses to, the violation of labor rights\u201d case-by-case protection from \u201cthreats of immigration-related retaliation from the exploitative employers,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2023\/01\/13\/dhs-announces-process-enhancements-supporting-labor-enforcement-investigations\" target=\"_blank\">DHS said<\/a>. Affected workers can request a deferral of deportation.<\/p>\n<p>And in July 2022, DOL released guidelines that <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dol.gov\/newsroom\/releases\/sol\/sol20220706\" target=\"_blank\">protect undocumented workers<\/a> who file labor disputes from deportation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, a worker safety advocacy organization, said the new OSHA authority is \u201ca step forward\u201d for immigrant workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtecting workers who are witnesses to illegal workplace abuses not only means workers can be treated fairly, it also creates a level playing field for employers,\u201d Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of National COSH, said in a news release. \u201cCompanies that provide a safe workplace, use above-board hiring and recruitment practices and pay workers what they are owed should not have to compete with those who break the law to gain an unfair advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5143531171910809\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- News - Bottom -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5143531171910809\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8320848692\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/osha-to-issue-special-visas-to-immigrant-workers-during-criminal-investigat\/642931\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dive Brief: The U.S. Department of Labor will give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration the authority to issue special &#8230; <a title=\"OSHA to issue special visas to immigrant workers during criminal investigations\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/osha-to-issue-special-visas-to-immigrant-workers-during-criminal-investigations\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about OSHA to issue special visas to immigrant workers during criminal investigations\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}