The Department of Justice announced that it reached a settlement with JP Senior Healthcare LLC and JP Senior Management LLC, resolving the department’s claims that these companies violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by discriminating against a Latino employee based on assumptions that the worker was not a US citizen. JP Senior Management manages two nursing facilities owned by JP Senior Healthcare: Pioneer Valley Living and Rehab located in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, and Goldenrod Manor Care Center located in Clarinda, Iowa. Based on its investigation, the department determined that while verifying a new employee’s legal right to work in the United States, JP Senior Healthcare and JP Senior Management rejected the US citizen’s valid driver’s license and unrestricted Social Security card.
The investigation further concluded that the companies demanded that the worker instead present a Permanent Resident Card based on the companies’ incorrect belief that the worker was not a US citizen, even after the worker explained that he was a US citizen, and therefore, not eligible for a Permanent Resident Card. Additionally, the department determined that these documentary demands resulted in the end of the worker’s employment.
The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from requesting more or different documents than necessary to prove work authorization based on employees’ citizenship status or national origin. Instead, all work-authorized individuals, regardless of citizenship status or national origin, may choose which valid, legally acceptable documents to present to demonstrate their ability to work in the United States.
