labor lawAdivision of labor law center

A new I-9 form for employers has been developed. Otherwise known as the employment eligibility form, the I-9 form’s revised version is effective April 3, 2009.

At that time, all employers in the U.S. will be legally bound to use the new version.

Any such employers who wish to do so are invited to comment. It should be noted that many firms have already begun switching over to the new forms. Compliance is not mandatory yet, however. As in the past, employers may legally make copies of I-9 documentation, but must file such documentation in a location separate from a worker’s personnel file.

The deadline date represents a delay in the date originally put forward by the U.S. Citizenship and immigration Services following action under the Bush administration.

As a result of efforts by, among others, the new White House under President Barack Obama, the deadline was moved back from February 2, 2009.

Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel sent memos to federal agencies urging them to (more…)

Several features of the $780 billion stimulus plan passed this week will affect how Human Resources professionals perform their jobs in 2009 and beyond.

The goal of the law signed by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009 is to save or create more than 3 million jobs. The bill, H.R. 1, was developed jointly by the House and Senate.

During negotiation, members of the House and Senate removed all mention of the federal government’s E-Verify system. The initial bill passed in the House would have required that any business receiving funds from the federal government under the stimulus bill use that system to verify that all employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S., using that system.

E-Verify is still required by many states and local governments, and is free to all private employers in the country. All federal contractors will be required to implement E-Verify later this year.

In addition, the stimulus bill requires that any employer receiving aid hire U.S. workers who have been laid off before recruiting and hiring workers from other countries on H-1B visas. This measure is expected to have the biggest impact on IT employees. (more…)

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. The fact that this act was Obama’s first bill signed into law, may signal a busy year ahead for labor legislation.

In a statement before the signing, President Obama said, “Lilly Ledbetter did not set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job — and she did it well — for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for doing the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits — losses that she still feels today.”

Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for two decades before learning that she had consistently been paid less than her male colleagues for the identical job. She filed suit (more…)

Ex-convicts and others with criminal convictions are the subject of a new workplace poster in New York State.

The poster outlines what is known as Article 23 A of the New York Correction Law. The article, signed into law by New York’s Governor David Paterson, outlines the law as it applies to hiring of people with criminal records.

Under the law, New York employers are legally allowed to consider the conviction of a job-hunter as a negative issue when deciding on hiring, provided the crime the candidate was convicted for relates directly to the job or the license sought.

However, if the crime does not directly relate to the job, the employer cannot consider it during the hiring process. The new law makes it illegal discrimination to do so.

As an example, if an accountant had been convicted of embezzling from the bank in which he worked, another bank need not hire him. On the other hand, if this same accountant had been convicted, not of embezzlement, but of selling drugs, under the new law the employer is not permitted to consider that conviction when making a hiring decision.

Whenever an applicant with a criminal record is refused a job, the employer (more…)

Federal contractors have been given a few more weeks to purchase required supplies and comply with the new E-Verify regulations.

The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that the deadline has been moved back from January 15, 2009 to February 20, 2009.

This temporary postponement was made to accommodate employers after several business groups, including SHRM, the Society of Human Resource Management and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce objected to the new regulations.

Indications are that the Department of Justice will be strictly enforcing the new regulations, so employers would be wise to have all supplies on hand and implement E-Verify prior to the deadline. This will permit employers to work out any problems with their program, ahead of the deadline. 

The new E-Verify regulations implement an executive order issued by President George W. Bush in June 2008. Under the new regulations, federal contractors must use an electronic system such as E-Verify to ascertain that new employees working on federal contracts are legally permitted to work in the U.S.

E-verify is a joint venture between the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm the legal work status of new employees. The program is free for any employer to use.

One of the more controversial portions of the rule would require federal contractors to ascertain the legal work and immigration status of existing employees, working on some sensitive federal projects.

The new regulations require that the government cannot enter into a contract with a company that refuses to check the employees legal work status with E-Verify. However, the rule is not retroactive – it applies only to contracts signed after the new effective date of February 20, 2009.

The new E-Verify regulation, or a similar version, will probably prevail although it has been challenged in court by SHRM. “SHRM supports the use of an electronic employment verification system but E-Verify is far from ready to be mandated on all employers,” said attorney Nancy Hammer. She is the Manager of Regulatory and Judicial Affairs for SHRM. “We are pleased with the Justice Department’s decision to delay the effective date. We want to avoid the problems and confusion that will result if the rules go into effect before the court has a chance to evaluate their legality.”

Both parties must file final motions and briefs on the case in the U.S. District Court in Maryland by February 11, 2009.

Meanwhile, employers can get a jump on this deadline, by implementing E-Verify now. A number of states already require that every employer use E-Verify, while others only recommend it.