The Justice Department announced that it secured a settlement agreement with Maxim Healthcare Services (Maxim), a home healthcare company based in Columbia, Maryland, with operations in 35 states. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that Maxim violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) at its Gardena, California, office by discriminating against a non-US citizen worker when it rejected her valid document showing her permission to work and requiring lawful permanent residents working for the company to prove their continued permission to work even though it was unnecessary. After opening an investigation based on a worker’s complaint, the Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) concluded that Maxim improperly rejected the worker’s valid document based on her citizenship status. Specifically, the department determined that the company rejected the worker’s employment authorization document (EAD) because the last name on it was different from the last name on her driver’s license and Social Security card, even though the company accepted documents from US citizens under similar circumstances and believed that the EAD reasonably appeared to be genuine and to relate to the worker, which is all that the Department of Homeland Security rules require.
The investigation also determined that Maxim routinely required lawful permanent residents to present unnecessary documentation when their Permanent Resident Cards expired, which is not required by law. The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from rejecting valid documents or asking for specific or unnecessary documents because of a worker’s citizenship or immigration status. If a lawful permanent resident provides an unexpired Permanent Resident Card to prove their permission to work, employers are not permitted to request new documentation if the Permanent Resident Card later expires. Under the terms of the settlement, Maxim will pay a civil penalty to the United States and lost wages to the affected worker, train its employees on the INA’s anti-discrimination requirements, revise its employment policies and processes and be subject to monitoring by the department.
