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3220 M Street Telephone: (916) 492-6555 Facsimile: (916) 492-6556 ©2008 The Ison Law Group |
2008 EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE
STATE/FEDERAL REGULATORY CHANGES
In addition to
changes in statutory law, state and federal agencies have made important
changes:
Social Security No-Match Letters
Effective September
14, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published new regulations
setting tough standards for businesses that receive “no match” letters from
either the DHS or the Social Security Administration (SSA). The new regulations impose penalties of up to
$10,000 per violation.
The DHS sends out a
“no match” letter to an employer when the immigration-status or employment
documentation presented by an employee is inconsistent with DHS records. The SSA sends out a "no match"
letter when the combination of name and social security number submitted for an
employee fails to match. The new DHS
rules clarify that employers may be held liable if they fail to take
“reasonable steps” within 90 days of receiving a no-match letter.
The new regulations
have been suspended via a preliminary injunction granted as of October 15, 2007.
New Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9)
Form Required
U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new Form
I-9 that employers must use to verify employment eligibility of all new hires
or
re-verifications. Employers not using the new Form I-9 by December 26, 2007,
are subject to penalties. The form must be used for new employees and
re-verifications; current employees do not need to complete new forms, unless
the employee’s status needs to be re-verified on other grounds. The new Form I-9 is available for download at
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf.
FEHC Anti-Sexual Harassment Training
Regulations
Effective August
17, 2007, the Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) has adopted its
final regulations implementing AB 1825.
AB 1825 applies to
all companies that regularly employ fifty (50) or more employees or “receive
the services” of 50 or more persons. Any employer utilizing independent
contractors or temporary workers must include these persons in making the
determination whether the employer is obligated to provide AB 1825 training. There is no requirement that the fifty (50)
employees or contractors work at the same location, or that all work or reside
in
AB 1825 mandates
that employers complete their first round of supervisory training on or before
January 1, 2006. Thereafter, employers
must provide two (2) hours of sexual harassment prevention training to each
supervisory employee every two years.
New supervisory employees must be trained within six (6) months of
accepting a supervisory position, and every two (2) years thereafter. However, a newly hired supervisor can “carry
over” training from a previous employer and need only receive and acknowledge a
copy of the new employer’s anti-harassment policy within six (6) months of
arriving at the new job.
The final AB 1825
regulations allow employers to track compliance individually or by “training
year.” Under the “training year” method, an employer may designate a “training
year” in which it trains all supervisory employees and thereafter retrains them
by the end of the next training year (e.g.,
all supervisors trained in training year 2005 are trained again in 2007). Employers must keep documentation of all
sexual harassment prevention training, including the name of the supervisory
employee trained, the date of training, the type of training, and the name of
the qualified trainer. The documentation
must be kept as a business record for a minimum of two (2) years. Remedies for failure to comply with this
record-keeping requirement may include an administrative order from the FEHC
finding that the employer is out of compliance, and demanding compliance within
sixty (60) days.