In one case, an employer asked a Puerto Rican job applicant to show a green card, not knowing Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
In another, a Mexican immigrant showed his green card to a potential employer, but the employer mistakenly rejected it as counterfeit.
Examples like these are some of the reasons federal officials will hold a workshop in Chicago on Friday on immigration and employment rights.
“If you speak with an accent, or have a Spanish surname, or look like you might be from another country, you have a greater burden than other people,” said John Trasvina, special counsel for immigration-related unfair employment practices in the civil rights division of the Justice Department.
Trasvina and other federal officials, including those from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, will meet with community groups and immigrants at Erie Neighborhood House, 1347 W. Erie St. They will discuss what protections legal immigrants and U.S. citizens have when they face discrimination by an employer who suspects they are not authorized to work in the U.S.
These efforts come at a time when the Immigration and Naturalization Service has started a new employment verification program with 38 companies in the Chicago area. Unlike other programs set up to verify the work eligibility of people who are not U.S. citizens, this one verifies the work eligibility of all employees by validating their documentation, said INS spokeswoman Elaine Komis in Washington, D.C.
The program, launched in August, enables an employer to use a computer database to cross check with the Social Security Administration or the INS whether an employee is legally authorized to work in the U.S. The checks are conducted after the employee is hired, Komis said.
Since 1986, employers have been legally responsible for asking all new hires for documents proving their work eligibility, such as a Social Security card. The new INS program was established to ensure that those documents are valid, Komis said.
In October, Trasvina visited some of the Chicago employers participating in the new program and concluded that some of them are misusing it.
“What we’ve found is that when employers aren’t familiar, or confused, that leads to employees being discriminated against,” he said.
However, no official complaints have been filed by employees as a result of the INS program, Trasvina said.
The names of the participating companies are kept confidential and the employees are not usually aware their Social Security numbers or immigration status is under review, Komis added.
Tim Bell, adult education director at Erie House, said he has concerns about the accuracy of the databases and the effectiveness of the INS program.
“A lot of people who are authorized to work will have extra barriers to work through,” Bell said.
