Workforce Language Services

A recent Diversity Spectrum article provides a comprehensive overview of the changes in workplace hiring brought on by aggressive raids across various industries.  The article details Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepping up of actions taken against companies who fail to comply with immigration laws when hiring. 

Companies are now operating in a climate of fear at being targeted by ICE and currently have to choose between being compliant and being non-discriminatory.  Compliance is winning out:

There is a growing concern that companies may become so compliance-oriented with respect to immigration law that they risk discriminatory conduct, according to Lopez. To prevent this, HR executives must ensure that they are not being overly aggressive in their immigration compliance activities.”Sometimes the choice has to be made between immigration compliance and potentially discriminatory conduct,” Lopez says. “Companies should err on the side of lower liability, which now means risking a discrimination charge to ensure immigration compliance. But this must be a fact-based decision grounded in the specific workforce and the business line.”

If companies have to choose which gray area they will occupy, they will go with discrimination, Lopez says.

“Five years ago, they would have risked noncompliance on immigration issues to avoid any risk of discrimination charges,” he says. “Now, the opposite is true.”

However, if companies become so compliance-oriented that the workplace becomes hostile, those who are targeted may take action against the company.