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U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS OF DISCRIMINATION IN I-9 EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION
In March, the U.S. Justice Department announced the settlement of allegations of discrimination by Aztec Productions, a clothing manufacturer, in verifying employment authorization. The company will pay $ 27,000 - $ 5000 in backpay and a $ 22,000 civil fine - for overzealous application of federal laws that impose sanctions on businesses that employ unauthorized workers. The incident in question involved a naturalized citizen of Mexican origin. When he applied for a job he was told to obtain proof of employment eligibility; when he returned with a naturalization certificate, he was told all the positions had been filled.
Attorneys who represent employers before the Justice Department, such as Darryl Buffenstein, past president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, describe the law as putting employers in a Catch-22 situation. The employer must verify employment eligibility, but if they check too closely, they may be guilty of discrimination; in short, the employer is "damned if they do, and damned it they don’t."
Special Counsel John Trasvina, head of the Justice Department division on immigration related employment issues, says that his office has collected over $ 2 million in civil fines and over $ 1 million in backpay. In 1998 there were 25 settlements of claims of discrimination in employment verification.
The patterns of enforcement in this area may be changing with the recently announced change in INS enforcement strategy, moving from work place raids to concentrating on auditing records to determine employment verification compliance. Paul Virtue, General Counsel for the INS, describes the move as a more productive use of INS resources, and moving the focus from employers who may inadvertently break the law to those who intentionally flaunt it.