The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices is suing a California medical services firm, alleging a pattern of requiring job applicants to provide forms not required for Form I-9 work eligibility status. The suit springs from a February 2010 incident in which the company rejected a [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The online E-Verify Self-Check program offered by the United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS) has been expanded to 16 more states. Self-Check is open to individuals to verify that government databases contain the correct documentation to authorize them to work in the United States. The new states are California, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced it will notify 1,000 companies nationwide of its intent to audit their full hiring records to determine if they're in compliance with the nation's employment eligibility verification laws. Not only will ICE be examining the companies' I-9 employment verification forms but also all payroll records, copies of immigration [...]
Read the rest of this entry »U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has launched I-9 Central, a new online resource center dedicated to the most frequently accessed form on USCIS.gov: Form I-9, Employee Eligibility Verification. The free Web site builds on recent employment-related enhancements by providing employers and employees simple one-click access to resources, tips and guidance to properly complete Form [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is poised to publish its final rule concerning documents acceptable to verify employment eligibility on the federal Form I-9, which is used to establish a person's legal right to work in the United States. The final rule, which will be published tomorrow (April 15) in the Federal Register, adopts [...]
Read the rest of this entry »On Tuesday, February 23, 2011, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) held a meeting to discuss the use and design of its Form I-9, which is used to document a worker's right to work in the United States. The participants were challenged—at the outset—to envision how they would design the I-9 if they [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Denver-based Chipolte Mexican Grill was forced to terminate hundreds from its 50 Minnesota locations after an I-9 audit turned up a large number of undocumented workers. The total Chipolte workforce in the state before the audit stood at 1,200. Co-CEO Monty Moran said: "We are surprised at what’s happened here because we are very careful [...]
Read the rest of this entry »The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which conducts compliance audits of firms with federal contracts, has announced that it will no longer inspect I-9 employee eligibility forms during its visits. Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), OFCCP had previously verified I-9 compliance and reported violations to ICE. [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas yesterday (Nov. 10, 2010) announced the addition of a passport and passport card verification feature on the government’s online E-Verify employee eligibility system. “U.S. passport photo matching is another in the long line of enhancements we have made to improve the integrity of the E-Verify [...]
Read the rest of this entry »On Sept. 15, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials sent out another 500 notices of inspection (NOIs) to businesses suspected of employing illegal immigrants. ICE agents will be auditing these firms’ I-9 employment verification documents. Affected businesses were given three business days to prepare for the inspection, so the audits should already be under way. [...]
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