The Department of Justice announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Onin Staffing LLC (Onin Staffing), a Birmingham, Alabama-based staffing company with locations in over a dozen states. The settlement resolves the Department’s investigation into whether the company violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against work-authorized, non-U.S. citizens in McAllen, Texas, because of their citizenship status when verifying their authorization to work in the United States. The Department’s investigation concluded that from at least May 2018 until at least May 2019, Onin Staffing employees in its McAllen, Texas, office required specific work authorization documents from all non-U.S. citizens, while not imposing a similar requirement on U.S. citizens. Federal law allows all work-authorized individuals, regardless of citizenship status, to choose which valid, legally acceptable documents to present to demonstrate their ability to work in the United States. The anti-discrimination provision of the INA prohibits employers from requesting more or different documents than necessary to prove work authorization based on employees’ citizenship status or national origin. Under the terms of the settlement, the company will pay a civil penalty of $70,695, train certain employees on the requirements of the INA’s anti-discrimination provision, and be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements. Additionally, to avoid discrimination in the future, the company must change features of the Form I-9 software it uses that do not comply with federal law.
