Federal and International

Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Staffing Agency


Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—August 15, 2014. The Justice Department reached an agreement today with Real Time Staffing Services LLC, doing business as Select Staffing, a company based in Santa Barbara, California.  The settlement resolves the department’s claims that Select Staffing discriminated against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

The department’s investigation, which was initiated based on a referral from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), concluded that members of the company’s staff required non-U.S. citizens, but not similarly-situated U.S. citizens, to present specific documents during the employment eligibility verification process to establish their work authority.   The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on work-authorized employees during the employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status or national origin. 

Under the settlement agreement, Select Staffing will pay $230,000 in civil penalties to the United States, create a $35,000 back pay fund to compensate individuals who may have lost wages due to the company’s practices and undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  Certain Select Staffing branches will be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for a period of three years.

“The Civil Rights Division is committed to protecting work authorized individuals from discriminatory practices in the employment eligibility verification process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division.  “We commend Select Staffing for working cooperatively with the division to resolve this matter.”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA.  The statute prohibits, among other things, citizenship status and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, document abuse, retaliation and intimidation.   

For more information about protections against employment discrimination under immigration laws, call OSC’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call OSC’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a free webinar at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php, email [email protected]; or visit OSC’s website at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc.  

Applicants or employees who believe they were subjected to different documentary requirements based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin, or discrimination based on their citizenship status, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral, should contact OSC’s worker hotline for assistance.

Source: justice.gov


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