New Law 2014 – Immigration/Retaliation (AB 263)

Federal immigration law makes it unlawful for employers (including those in California) to hire and retain workers who are not permitted to work in the United States (including within the state of California).

California law under AB 263 makes it unlawful for California employers (all of whom must comply with federal immigration law) to engage in “unfair immigration-related practices.”  “Unfair immigration-related practices are “defined” as:

1. Requesting more or different documents than are required under Section 1324a(b) of Title 8 of the United States Code, or a refusal to honor documents tendered pursuant to that section that on their face reasonably appear to be genuine.
2. Using the federal E-Verify system to check the employment authorization status of a person at a time or in a manner not required under Section 1324a(b) of Title 8 of the United States Code, or not authorized under any memorandum of understanding governing the use of the federal E-Verify system.
3. Threatening to file or the filing of a false police report.
4. Threatening to contact or contacting immigration authorities.

Moral of this story: do the proper immigration check under federal law on the front end.  Make your decision to as federal immigration law compliance at that time.  File copies of the supporting documentation in a file separate from the personnel file.  And then forget about it.