On October 11, 2017, Bloomberg Law Daily Labor Report published an article about the additional scrutiny employers that hire foreign workers likely will face.
The Justice and State departments have partnered in a new effort to combat discrimination against U.S. workers and visa fraud. The departments will now share information about employers “engaging in unlawful discrimination, committing fraud, or making other misrepresentations in their use of employment-based visas,’’ the DOJ said, which includes temporary visas such as the H-1B specialty occupation visa, the H-2A agricultural visa, and the H-2B nonagricultural seasonal worker visa.
Numerous quotes from Klasko’s, William (Bill) Stock, on how this approach to combating fraud and discrimination is different from past administrations:
- Bill says, “This is information that the Department of Justice never found relevant to its mission before.”
- The IER originally was created to protect lawful immigrants from discrimination and the office wasn’t involved with discrimination against U.S.-born workers.
- The information gathered under the new MOU will be used to create a ‘‘picture’’ that there is a problem of employers discriminating against U.S. citizens in favor of temporary foreign workers, ‘‘whether or not that picture conforms to the broader reality.’’
- ‘‘What it misses is that employers already prefer U.S. workers for these positions’’ and only hire foreign workers when necessary, Bill said and, ‘‘the guaranteed result is work will move abroad.”
Reproduced with permission from Daily Labor Report, 195 DLR 10, 10/11/17. Copyright 2017 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) <http://www.bna.com>
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