Culinaire International Settles DOJ's Citizenship Discrimination Claims
Author: Melissa A. Silver, XpertHR Legal Editor
September 5, 2014
The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Special Counsel, announced in a press release that it has reached a settlement with Culinaire International, a catering and restaurant management company, of claims that Culinaire engaged in citizenship status discrimination during the employment eligibility reverification process. The DOJ claimed that Culinaire wrongfully required lawful permanent resident employees to provide a new Permanent Resident Card when their current card expired.
Employers use federal Form I-9 to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired to work in the US. An employer must reverify an employee's status (by completing Section 3 of Form I-9) when his or her employment authorization or other proof of temporary work authorization expires. An employer may also complete Section 3 if it rehires an employee within three years of when the employee's initial Form I-9 was completed, or it may instead complete a new Form I-9.
The Immigration and Nationality Act's (INA) antidiscrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on work-authorized employees during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status. Accordingly, the Form I-9 rules specifically prohibit employers from reverifying the work authorization of US citizens, non-citizen nationals or lawful permanent residents who supplied a Permanent Resident Card in support of Section 2 of Form I-9, even if the Permanent Resident Card later expires during employment, because of the additional documentary burden imposed.
Molly Moran, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, stated in the press release that "[e]mployers cannot discriminate against workers by requiring them to produce more documents than necessary in the employment eligibility verification and reverification process." However, she also stated that the department praised Culinaire's willingness to resolve the matter quickly and its commitment to change its documentary practices.
The settlement requires Culinaire to do the following:
- Pay $20,460 in civil penalties to the US government;
- Establish a $40K back-pay fund to compensate potential victims;
- Undergo training on the antidiscrimination provision of the INA;
- Revise its employment eligibility reverification policies; and
- Have its employment eligibility verification policies monitored for 20 months.