Asking for Too Many Documents in the Hiring Process Can Get You in Trouble

The Justice Department today reached a settlement agreement with Kinro Manufacturing Inc. in Indiana, resolving allegations  of discrimination against work-authorized non-citizens in the employment eligibility verification process. The company is a manufacturer of components for recreational vehicles and manufactured homes.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Kinro Manufacturing will pay a $25,000 civil penalty and $10,000 in back pay to the injured party.  They will also alter their practices, train human resources personnel, and provide periodic reports to the department for one year.

According to the department’s findings, the company subjected newly hired non-U.S. citizens to excessive demands for documents  in order to verify their employment eligibility, but did not require U.S. citizens to show the same documentation. The charging party, a lawful permanent resident, filed his charge of discrimination after he was required to provide additional proof of his employment eligibility not required by law before he could begin work at the company. The Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on workauthorized employees during the hiring and employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status or national origin.

If you have questions about the employment eligibility verification process please contact our office at info at harms-law.com.

The DOJ press release can be found at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/August/11-ag-1098.html

Employers Fined for Employment Discrimination in Hiring Practices

The Justice Department settled allegations of immigration-related employment discrimination against the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canvas Corporation.  These cases are examples that employers cannot go overboard in ensuring that they have a legal workforce or they will run afoul of discrimination laws.

 The Immigration and Nationality Act includes a provision designed to protect work-authorized immigrants. When Congress enacted this provision as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, it sought to strike a balance between immigration worksite enforcement and the civil rights of workers. While employers are banned from hiring unauthorized workers, they must also treat all work-authorized individuals the same regardless of citizenship status or national origin.

 The Justice Department reached a settlement agreement with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), an organization of 60,000 pediatricians based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., resolving allegations that the organization impermissibly allowed postings on its  www.PedJobs.org website that limited applications to U.S. citizens and certain visa holders. AAP has agreed to pay $22,000 in civil penalties, monitor its job postings to ensure that work authorized individuals are treated equally, train its PedJobs personnel about its non-discrimination responsibilities under the INA, and provide periodic reports to the department for three years.

The Justice Department also reached a settlement agreement with Canvas Corporation, a vending company based in Woodbury, N.Y., to settle allegations that Canvas Corporation engaged in a pattern or practice of citizenship status discrimination by preferring to hire only U.S. citizens.  The case originated when a lawful permanent resident responded to a Canvas Corporation job advertisement seeking U.S. citizen applicants for vendor positions. According to the department’s findings, Canvas Corporation rejected the resident because she is not a U.S. citizen. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Canvas Corporation has agreed to pay $10,397 in back pay to the charging party, and $13,400 in civil penalties. Canvas Corporation has also agreed to receive training on the INA’s anti-discrimination provision and to maintain and submit designated employment records to the United States for the two-year term of the agreement.

USCIS Contractors Don’t Make the Prevailing Wage

The Department of Labor announced that it has recovered more than $1.4 million in back wages for 237 employees employed by a contractor for the US Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services Vermont Service Center at various locations for failing to pay these workers the prevailing wage for their positions. 

When sponsoring individuals for H-1B status (the most common work-authorized work visa), the employer has to prove to the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security’s USCIS agency that it is paying the prevailing wage for the position.  Therefore, I find it highly ironic that the USCIS will hold employers to a higher standard than it holds its own contractors!