Home : Immigrants' Rights : Workplace Rights

Employment Verification Would Create a ‘No Work List’ in the U.S. (05/06/2008)
WASHINGTON – As the House Ways & Means subcommittee on Social Security met today to debate employment eligibility verification systems, the American Civil Liberties Union sounds its call for Congress not to erect barriers for Americans who seek employment. The hearing is to examine the impact that employment verification systems would have on the Social Security Administration (SSA), an already overburdened governmental agency.

Civil Rights, Immigration Policy And Workers' Rights Groups Present New Evidence On Devastating Impact Of "No Match" Rule (04/25/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union, Immigration Policy Center (IPC), National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and Low Wage Immigrant Worker (LWIW) Coalition presented new evidence today that confirms that if the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) proposed "no match" rule goes into effect, it will result in the mass firings of U.S. citizens and other authorized workers and have a devastating impact on American businesses and the economy.

E-Verify Would Cost $40 Billion, CBO Says (04/08/2008)
WASHINGTON – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the estimated cost to implement H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act of 2007, and found that the proposed legislation would cost taxpayers more than $40 billion over 10 years. H.R. 4088, introduced by Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO), would implement a national employer verification system and mandate it for all new hires. It is currently under consideration for a “discharge petition” that would allow the bill to bypass the traditional committee markup process and instead go directly to the House floor.

Civil Rights Coalition Charges That Republished "No Match" Rule Will Hurt American Workers (03/21/2008)
WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today reissued a "no match" rule with no substantial changes that would continue to put American and other authorized workers at risk of losing their jobs. If the newly released DHS rule were to take effect, it would still improperly use social security records for immigration enforcement.

Senate Budget Resolution a Setback for Minorities in the Workplace (03/14/2008)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union expressed its disappointment with yesterday’s Senate adoption of Senator Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) amendment to the budget resolution. The amendment rolls back federal civil rights enforcement authority created in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Alexander amendment cuts funds allocated to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prosecute workplace discrimination based on national origin, and redirects the funds to the Department of Education for English language training. Yesterday the Senate also passed an amendment offered by Sen. Kennedy to increase funding for English language training by $1 million.

Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit Over Van Nuys Workplace Raid After ICE Bars Attorneys From Immigration Interviews (02/14/2008)
LOS ANGELES — The ACLU of Southern California, National Lawyers Guild, and National Immigration Law Center asked a federal judge today to order U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow attorneys for workers arrested in last Thursday’s raid in Van Nuys to represent their clients at their immigration interviews. Over the past few days, ICE officials barred attorneys from accompanying their clients to the hearings, where workers were interviewed and then charged with immigration violations.

New York County’s Employment Proposal Is Discriminatory And Unnecessary (01/24/2008)
NEW YORK – A proposal by Suffolk County, New York lawmakers that would require that all 15,000 licensed contractors in the county prove their employees’ working status amounts to political posturing that promotes discrimination, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Civil Rights Coalition Files New Lawsuit Challenging Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (12/12/2007)
PHOENIX – A coalition of civil rights groups filed a new lawsuit in a Phoenix federal court today charging that the so-called Legal Arizona Workers Act unlawfully requires businesses to participate in a flawed work authorization verification database, lacks due process protections, improperly threatens businesses with a “business death penalty” that interferes with federal law, and would lead to discrimination against workers who are perceived as being foreign born.

ACLU Responds to Chertoff’s Attack on “No Match” Rule (12/05/2007)
NEW YORK -- During the Thanksgiving holiday, the federal government announced that it would abandon its proposed Department of Homeland Security "no match" rule which would use error-prone social security records as a tool for immigration enforcement. This came after a federal court found that the rule could cause citizens and other authorized workers to lose their jobs. The government first said that it would put forward a new rule it claims would be in accordance with the court’s decision. But yesterday, in a seemingly inconsistent maneuver, the government announced that it would simultaneously appeal the federal court’s decision blocking the original rule.

Government Abandons Current "No Match" Rule Harmful to Legal Workers (11/24/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) abandoned its attempt to enforce its proposed "no match" rule that would improperly use social security records for immigration enforcement. In a late Friday afternoon court filing the day after Thanksgiving in federal court in San Francisco, DHS requested that a lawsuit challenging the rule be put on hold until March 2008. The government plans to publish a revised rule in December 2007 that it claims will pass legal muster.

Un juez impide al gobierno poner en práctica una regla defectuosa respecto a los números de seguro social que no concuerdan (10/10/2007)
(translated) SAN FRANCISCO - Un juez federal emitió una orden preliminar el día de hoy, la cual le prohibe al gobierno hacer cumplir una nueva regla que utilizaría los archivos del seguro social para hacer cumplir las leyes de inmigración, evitando así que los ciudadanos y residentes legales de EE.UU.

Court Blocks Government From Implementing Flawed Social Security "No Match" Rule (10/10/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge issued a preliminary order today stopping the government from enforcing a new rule that would use social security records for immigration enforcement, ensuring that U.S. citizens and legal residents will not lose their jobs because of errors in the Social Security Administration (SSA) database. The order prevents any implementation -- until the court makes a final ruling after trial -- of a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule punishing employers if they do not take action after receiving social security "no match" letters.

Court Extends Order That Blocks Government From Implementing Flawed Social Security No Match Rule (10/01/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO - After a hearing today, a federal judge extended an order that temporarily stops the government from implementing a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that would cause U.S. citizens and other authorized workers to lose their jobs, and which would illegally use error-prone social security records as a tool for immigration enforcement. The judge's order also stops the Social Security Administration (SSA) from beginning to send notices to approximately 140,000 employers across the country notifying them of the new rule, which would impact approximately eight million workers. The temporary restraining order is not to exceed ten days.

Civil Rights Coalition Challenges Arizona Employer Sanctions Law (09/04/2007)
PHOENIX - The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) joined the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Arizona, the law firm of Altshuler Berzon and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) in filing a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of Chicanos Por La Causa and Somos America challenging Arizona’s new law that threatens employers with permanent loss of business licenses based on invalid new state requirements.

Court Halts Government From Implementing Flawed Social Security No-Match Rule (08/31/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge today issued an order temporarily blocking the government from implementing a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule that would cause U.S. citizens and other authorized workers to lose their jobs, and which would illegally use error-prone social security records as a tool for immigration enforcement. The judge's order also stops the Social Security Administration (SSA) from beginning to send notices on Tuesday to approximately 140,000 employers across the country notifying them of the new rule, which would impact approximately eight million workers.

AFL-CIO, ACLU and National Immigration Law Center Challenge New Homeland Security Rule (08/29/2007)
SAN FRANCISCO - The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and theCentral Labor Council of Alameda County along with other local labor movements today filed a lawsuit charging that a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule will threaten jobs of U.S. citizens and other legally authorized workers simply because of errors in the government's inaccurate social security earnings databases. The rule violates workers' rights and imposes burdensome obligations on employers who receive Social Security Administration (SSA) "no-match" letters that inform an employer of alleged discrepancies between employee records and the SSA database.

ACLU Urges Appeals Court Action on Behalf of Muslim Man Harassed by Coworkers (06/07/2006)
PORTLAND, ME -- Tomorrow, the Maine Civil Liberties Union will argue before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit that a Muslim man subjected to humiliating harassment at work should receive a remedy in court.

Immigration “Reform” Bill Must Not Violate Privacy, Say ACLU and AFL-CIO; Urge Reforms to Protect All Workers in America (04/20/2006)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the AFL-CIO said today that any immigration reform Congress considers must not violate workers’ privacy through an intrusive, bureaucratic Employment Eligibility Verification System. The Senate is expected to address immigration when it returns next week from its Easter recess.

As Senate Immigration Bill Stalls, ACLU Calls for Much-Needed Fixes, Says Lawmakers Must Act to Protect Due Process and Privacy (04/07/2006)
WASHINGTON - As legislation to reform the nation’s immigration laws stalled in the Senate today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged lawmakers to modify that legislation to better protect privacy, judicial review and due process rights.

Federal Court in CA Blocks Government from Denying Airport Screener Jobs to Qualified Noncitizens (11/15/2002)
LOS ANGELES - A federal district judge today sided with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other civil rights groups in granting a court order that would allow qualified, noncitizen airport screeners to remain on the job or be considered for jobs they lost as a result of a federal law that would require all airport screeners to be United States citizens.