The Justice Department today reached an agreement with an Illinois based staffing agency resolving claims that the staffing company violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
The Justice Department’s investigation was initiated based on a referral from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under a memorandum of agreement between the Civil Rights Division and USCIS. The department’s investigation concluded that The agency applied enhanced employment eligibility procedures to work-authorized non-U.S. citizens that were run through E-Verify. The company did not utilize these additional procedures when it ran U.S. Citizens through E-Verify. E-Verify is an Internet-based system run by USCIS that confirms employment eligibility by comparing information from an employee’s Form I-9.
Under the settlement agreement, the company will pay $8,400 in civil penalties to the United States, undergo Justice Department training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for a period of three years. The case settled prior to the Justice Department filing a complaint in this matter.
“Employers cannot create higher hurdles for non-U.S. citizens in the employment eligibility verification process, which includes E-Verify, than those required of U.S. citizens or those required by law,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.
