Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Massachusetts Staffing Agency

The Justice Department reached an agreement today with SD Staffing LLC (“SD Staffing”), a/k/a Atwork Personnel Services Inc., a company based in Methuen, Massachusetts, resolving claims that the staffing company engaged in citizenship status discrimination 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”), found that SD Staffing required work-authorized non-U.S. citizens to produce specific documents in connection with SD Staffing’s use of the E-Verify program. E-Verify is an Internet-based electronic verification system used by employers and administered by USCIS that confirms an individual’s employment eligibility. The department’s investigation confirmed that SD Staffing requested unnecessary documents to work-authorized non-U.S. citizens, but not to similarly-situated U.S. citizens. Under the settlement agreement, SD Staffing will identify and provide back pay to individuals who suffered lost wages between September 2011 and January 2014 as a result of the company’s alleged discriminatory documentary practices; pay $10,500 in civil penalties to the United States; undergo training on the anti-discrimination provision of the INA; and be subject to monitoring of its employment eligibility verification practices for two years. (Read Full Story). If you have questions on how to properly utilize E-Verify, call Johnstone Adams at (251) 432-7682 or toll-free at (866) 732-3267, or visit our Website.