Post by unlawflcombatnt on May 9, 2010 12:51:07 GMT -6
This story is somewhat outdated, but it's the 1st time I heard about. It's pretty encouraging for those of us who want illegal immigration stopped. In this case, even though the most visible action was the termination of 1,500 illegal immigrant workers--the ICE spokeswoman made the point that it was the EMPLOYER they were really after. The employers terminated the workers to avoid legal action being taken against them for illegal hiring.
It's about time they started going after employers. Hopefully this same policy has continued since the date of this article (Sept 2009).
American Apparel terminations for 1,500 workers
Sept 03, 2009
by Andrea Chang
"The Los Angeles manufacturer and clothing retailer says it must dismiss employees who were unable to prove their immigration status or fix problems with their employment records.
Hundreds of American Apparel Inc. workers must leave the company because they were unable to prove their immigration status or fix problems with their employment records, the company said Wednesday.
The terminations come 2 months after the Los Angeles manufacturer and retailer announced that a government inspection had found that about 1,600 of its workers didn't appear to be authorized to work in the U.S.
About 200 more had been found to have discrepancies in their employment records. Among the infractions found were some employees' use of fake Social Security numbers.
"There are approximately 1,500 workers facing termination during the month of September," said Peter Schey, a lawyer for American Apparel....
All of the affected workers are based at the company's manufacturing facility in downtown Los Angeles, Schey said....
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to discuss American Apparel specifically, saying the federal agency was "not at liberty to discuss fines levied in work site enforcement cases until the fine amount becomes final."
She did say that in general, employers were responsible for dismissing unauthorized workers.
"There's no direct order from ICE to terminate an employee," she said. "But if a company continues to employ individuals who are not authorized to work, they understand there may be potential legal consequences."
Kice also declined to speculate on what would happen to illegal workers once they left a company.
"The focus is on the employer . . . on ensuring that businesses employ a legal workforce," she said.....
It's about time that this became their focus--the employers who are doing the illegal hiring. With California's unemployment rate over 12%, there's just no excuse for hiring illegal workers. There are plenty of Americans who would jump at the job, even it only paid minimum wage."
Although the dismissals amount to more than 10% of American Apparel's roughly 10,000-employee workforce, the company doesn't expect problems for its business, Schey said.
"We do not anticipate that it will have a significant impact on American Apparel's productivity because of the confluence of several factors including the slow economy and high preexisting inventory levels," he said.
The terminations are just the latest in a string of public problems that the company has faced.
In May, American Apparel agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Woody Allen over the unauthorized use of the actor-director's image on the company's billboards.
On Wednesday, the company said it agreed to no longer use an advertisement that had run in Britain after a standards authority deemed that the sexual nature of the ad had the potential to offend people."
It's about time they started going after employers. Hopefully this same policy has continued since the date of this article (Sept 2009).
American Apparel terminations for 1,500 workers
Sept 03, 2009
by Andrea Chang
"The Los Angeles manufacturer and clothing retailer says it must dismiss employees who were unable to prove their immigration status or fix problems with their employment records.
Hundreds of American Apparel Inc. workers must leave the company because they were unable to prove their immigration status or fix problems with their employment records, the company said Wednesday.
The terminations come 2 months after the Los Angeles manufacturer and retailer announced that a government inspection had found that about 1,600 of its workers didn't appear to be authorized to work in the U.S.
About 200 more had been found to have discrepancies in their employment records. Among the infractions found were some employees' use of fake Social Security numbers.
"There are approximately 1,500 workers facing termination during the month of September," said Peter Schey, a lawyer for American Apparel....
All of the affected workers are based at the company's manufacturing facility in downtown Los Angeles, Schey said....
Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to discuss American Apparel specifically, saying the federal agency was "not at liberty to discuss fines levied in work site enforcement cases until the fine amount becomes final."
She did say that in general, employers were responsible for dismissing unauthorized workers.
"There's no direct order from ICE to terminate an employee," she said. "But if a company continues to employ individuals who are not authorized to work, they understand there may be potential legal consequences."
Kice also declined to speculate on what would happen to illegal workers once they left a company.
"The focus is on the employer . . . on ensuring that businesses employ a legal workforce," she said.....
It's about time that this became their focus--the employers who are doing the illegal hiring. With California's unemployment rate over 12%, there's just no excuse for hiring illegal workers. There are plenty of Americans who would jump at the job, even it only paid minimum wage."
Although the dismissals amount to more than 10% of American Apparel's roughly 10,000-employee workforce, the company doesn't expect problems for its business, Schey said.
"We do not anticipate that it will have a significant impact on American Apparel's productivity because of the confluence of several factors including the slow economy and high preexisting inventory levels," he said.
The terminations are just the latest in a string of public problems that the company has faced.
In May, American Apparel agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Woody Allen over the unauthorized use of the actor-director's image on the company's billboards.
On Wednesday, the company said it agreed to no longer use an advertisement that had run in Britain after a standards authority deemed that the sexual nature of the ad had the potential to offend people."