The US Department of Justice received a court order on December 11, awarding the US $857,868 in civil penalties, along with other relief, in the Department’s immigration-related employment discrimination lawsuit against companies that provide contract shipyard labor.
The court found that the companies violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against workers based on their citizenship status during the employment eligibility verification process.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
The court’s order comes after its June 28 ruling that from at least January 2014 until at least July 2017, one of the companies limited the types of documentation different groups of workers could provide to establish their work authorization based on the workers’ citizenship status.
The US’s complaint against the company, filed in July 2017, alleged that the company asked US citizens to produce IDs and Social Security cards, while also requesting immigration documents from non-US citizens. After the companies refused to comply with court procedures and orders during the litigation, the court sanctioned the companies and held both companies liable for discriminatory documentary practices.
Namely, INA does not allow employers from limiting workers’ choice of documentation to present for employment verification based on the workers’ citizenship, immigration status, or national origin.
The December 10 order resolves issues regarding penalties and remedies to be awarded to the US. In adopting the Department’s penalty recommendation, the court considered the companies’ misconduct during the litigation and the companies’ failure to submit evidence to the court. In addition to the $857,868 civil penalty, for which the companies are jointly and liable, the court granted the Department’s request that the companies train their staff on the INA and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements for three years.
