The wrong process can be discriminatory (and expensive).
From an August 2011 Justice Department news release - The Justice Department reached a settlement with Farmland Foods Inc, resolving allegations of discrimination in the I-9 process. Farmland has agreed to pay $290,400 in civil penalties, the highest civil penalty paid through settlement since enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision in 1986.
The lawsuit was based on an investigation revealing that Farmland required all newly hired non-U.S. citizens and some foreign-born U.S. citizens to present specific and, in many cases, extra work-authorization documents beyond those required by federal law. In the case of non-U.S. citizens, Farmland required the presentation of a specific work-authorization rather than allowing the employee to choose which document(s) to present from the list of acceptable documents on the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9.
Farmland also required additional work authorization documents, generally by requiring social security cards, even when employees had already produced other documents establishing work authority. In the case of foreign-born naturalized U.S. citizens, Farmland sometimes required evidence of citizenship, such as certificates of naturalization or U.S. passports, even when those individuals had other means of proving their work authority. Farmland’s demand for specific or excessive documents to establish work authority violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
In addition to ending its impermissible document requests and modifying its employment eligibility verification process, and civil penalties, Farmland also agreed to monitoring and reporting provisions, as well as training for their human resources personnel.
For more information on the I-9 Services offered by THOMAS HOUSTON associates, inc., call 1-800-330-9000 or click here to schedule a convenient time for our call.
For more information on the compliance services offered by THOMAS HOUSTON associates, inc, please visit our corporate website: http://www.THOMASHOUSTON.com/
To read the release from the Justice Department, click here.
