The State - News from Nov. 1, 1985

The California Agricultural Labor Relations Board said a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not limit the panel’s authority to force growers to rehire and give back pay to illegal aliens. The board, in a 3-2 decision, ruled that its “remedial order of reinstatement and back pay poses no actual conflict with a (federal) Immigration and Naturalization Act law or regulation.” One board member, noting the high number of illegal aliens who reportedly work on California farms, said prior to the decision that a ruling applying the high court’s conclusions would have a “chilling effect on farm workers’ abilities to exercise their rights.” A grower’s attorney had predicted earlier that the board’s ruling would be appealed to the Supreme Court, no matter which way the ruling went.