HR Magazine (05/12) Dori Meinert

Employers considering hiring foreign nationals from a temporary staffing firm should first check to see if the organization is a member of the American Staffing Association, says Steven Berchem, the association’s chief operating officer. Association members must agree to a code of ethics, Berchem notes, and many association members also earn individual professional certifications, indicating their interest in learning legal and ethical practices. The association also offers corporate certifications.

Mary Wilson, owner of the Holiday Inn Express and Sleep Inn in Douglas, WY, advises employers that have hired workers through a staffing firm to keep open communications with the workers, even when they are not direct employees. “Listen to the employees and what’s happening to them,” she says. Wilson was approached about hiring Filipino nationals from the Giant Labor Solutions staffing firm to work at her hotels in late 2008. She eventually realized something was wrong when the employees told her they were having trouble getting their visas from Giant Labor Solutions. Wilson tried contacting the firm, but received no response. Eventually Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, an Uzbekistan citizen who led the multinational criminal enterprise that included Giant Labor Solutions, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for trafficking hundreds of foreign nationals in 14 states.