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Archive for the ‘Worksite Enforcement’ Category
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule rescinding the Social Security “No-Match” regulation. The so-called No-Match rule would have charged an employer with having “constructive knowledge” of the unauthorized employment of its employees if the employer failed to take certain steps in response to receiving a No-Match letter from the Social Security Administration, informing it that an employee’s name and Social Security Number provided for a W-2 earnings report did not match SSA’s records.
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Tags: I-9 Compliance, Immigration Compliance, No-Match, No-Match Rule, Worksite Enforcement
Posted in Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Friday, August 28th, 2009
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced an extension of the validity of Form I-9, and has made a PDF-fillable version available on their web site. The new edition contains no changes from the previous edition and USCIS stated they will continue to accept the February 2, 2009 edition in addition to the current edition, dated August 7, 2009.
Tags: Agency Updates, I-9, I-9 Compliance, Worksite Enforcement
Posted in Agency Updates, Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
We have previously reported on a lawsuit by the US Chambers of Commerce and other groups that was decided today. The lawsuit challenged the amendments to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that require most companies with federal government contracts to enroll in the E-Verify system. The FAR amendments were originally promulgated in November of 2008, and the Obama Administration has indicated it wants the amendments to take effect September 8, 2009.
The court was asked to rule on both sides’ motions for summary judgment – essentially, requests by both sides to end the lawsuit because the facts and law were clear. The Chambers argued, essentially, that because Congress had made the E-Verify program voluntary, but the new Federal Acquisition Regulations made the program mandatory for federal contractors, the FAR amendments violated Congress’ express directive and were invalid. The government’s argument, in essence, was that the FAR amendments did not make E-Verify mandatory – that a company could always choose not to seek federal contracts, in which case the company would not have to participate in E-Verify.
The court agreed with the government’s position, dismissing the Chambers’ lawsuit and clearing the way for the FAR amendments to go into effect on September 8, unless the Chambers appeal the court’s decision.
Congress may also get in the action, as the E-Verify program is still set to “sunset” as of September 30. A provision extending the program (and providing explicit statutory authority for the FAR provision) was included in the Senate’s bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, but has not yet been enacted.
Tags: E-Verify, Worksite Enforcement
Posted in Hot Questions, Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
On June 10, 2009 the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a request with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for an extension until July 10, 2009 to file a memorandum in support of lifting the injunction against the implementation of the Social Security No-Match regulation. DOJ also requested an extension for filing its response to the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.
In August 2007, a group of immigrant rights organizations as well as business and employer groups asked the federal court to enjoin the regulation from taking effect. In October of that year, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction. Since that time the case has been in litigation.
Since taking office, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has requested the court to grant several extensions of time so that the government could prepare their pleadings in the case. According to court records, the extensions are aimed at providing Secretary Napolitano with sufficient time to review the regulation in the “context of the Obama Administration’s overall immigration enforcement policies.” Since the Obama Administration took office they have taken a step back from the Bush Administration’s focus on enforcement actions against unauthorized aliens. Rather, they have stated that their top immigration enforcement priorities are towards employers who hire unauthorized workers in violation of federal immigration law.
The Social Security No-Match regulation provides that an employer’s failure to take reasonable steps after receipt of a Social Security No-Match letter can lead to a finding that an employer had “constructive knowledge” of the fact that an employee is an unauthorized alien. Under the Rule, employers would be exposed to increased liability if they fail to take a prescribed course of action termed a “safe harbor” upon receipt of a no-match letter.
The rule, while temporarily prevented from going into effect by a federal court in California, in many ways is only a codification of obligations employers have had since 1986. The Rule requires employers to take certain affirmative steps to resolve questions about an employee’s employment authorization; if the employer fails to take those steps, it can be found to “know” that the employee was not authorized.
For more information on the no-match regulation and how I-9 compliance requirements affect your business please visit our website http://www.worksite-compliance.com.
Tags: I-9 Compliance, No-Match
Posted in Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Monday, May 11th, 2009
One of the most pervasive problems in worksite enforcement is the ready availability of fraudulent documents to those who would work without authorization. Employers need only check that the documents “reasonably appear to be genuine;” the government’s E-Verify program is meant to provide another layer of inquiry through which employers can access government databases to verify that a document presented matches information in the government’s databases – for example, that the social security number on the card is not made-up or matched to a different person’s name.
One of the government’s enforcement strategies has been to charge workers whose fraudulent documents happen to match information from an actual person with “aggravated identity theft,” rather than solely with misuse of documents for an immigration purpose (i.e. completing an I-9). On May 4, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Flores-Figueroa v. United States, overturning the government’s ability to use that particular criminal charge in the I-9 context without proving that the worker knew the identification was not only fraudulent, but also matched the information of a real person.
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Tags: Worksite Enforcement
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Friday, May 1st, 2009
Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer LLP is pleased to announce the launch of our new micro-site entirely dedicated to providing employers with “need-to-have” resources to stay in compliance with US Immigration laws. The new site provides extensive information to businesses on federal and state worksite compliance laws, I-9 enforcement, E-Verify, Social Security no-match letters and H-1B Labor Condition Application compliance issues.
Special features on the site include:
· An I-9 Desk Reference Handbook (covering Employee Verification, Employer Sanctions and Anti-discrimination laws)
· An E-Verify State-by-State Legislation Survey.
The new site is www.worksite-compliance.com. We hope that you find our new site helpful and informative.
Tags: E-Verify, I-9 Compliance, ICE, Worksite Compliance, Worksite Enforcement
Posted in News & Politics, Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Monday, April 27th, 2009
In early April, Michael Aytes, Acting Deputy Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) testified before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Homeland Security regarding the status of the E-Verify Program. Aytes provided detail of the program’s performance, improvements the agency has made and will continue to make in the E-Verify system, and future plans to make the I-9 easier to complete and to monitor use of the E-Verify system. A summary of his testimony is after the jump. (more…)
Tags: E-Verify, I-9 Compliance
Posted in Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Friday, April 24th, 2009
President Obama’s nominee for Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton, faced a Senate panel for his confirmation hearing this week. He pledged to continue to prosecute bad-faith employers who hire unauthorized workers. Morton also announced that the Administration intends to eventually make use of the E-Verify, online employment verification program mandatory for all employers.
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Tags: I-9 Compliance, ICE, Worksite Enforcement
Posted in Worksite Enforcement | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Another delay has been announced in implementation of the “federal contractor rule,” which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulations to require federal contractors to enroll in and use the E-Verify system. The applicability date of the rule is now pushed back until June 30, 2009.
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Tags: E-Verify, I-9 Compliance
Posted in Agency Updates, Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP wishes to remind our clients that the new I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification Form, will become effective on April 3, 2009. The new I-9 form revises the list of acceptable documents that employers may accept to verify the identity and work eligibility of newly hired employees. It can be obtained from USCIS at http://www.uscis.gov/i-9.
The changes to Form I-9 require that all of the documents presented by an employee to establish work eligibility are unexpired. Additionally, the interim final rule adds several new documents to the list of acceptable documents to establish a new hire’s identity and work eligibility. Finally, Section 1 of the Form makes some changes to the part of the form in which new hires attest to their immigration status.
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Tags: I-9 Compliance
Posted in Agency Updates, Worksite Enforcement | Click Here To Comment »
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