April

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of February 1, 2015, the E-Verify system now checks driver's licenses and ID cards from the state of Nebraska when presented by a new hire for the Form I-9. Nebraska is the fifth state to join the Records and information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) Program, which was launched in June of 2011 to address issues of identity theft and document fraud in the hiring process. Other participating states include Mississippi, Florida, Idaho, and Iowa.

On January 8, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) issued a technical assistance letter (TAL) in response to an employer's request for guidance. The employer sought guidance on how to address the instance where an employee admitted after the fact that the documents presented during the Form I-9 process were not genuine and whether the employer would face any liability for discrimination if it chose to terminate the employee.
Not surprisingly, OSC refused to issue an advisory opinion. But it did provide general guidelines regarding compliance with the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration & Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. � 1324b . The TAL stated, in instances where an employer has properly completed these steps, and subsequently an employee comes forward with authentic work and identify documents once he|she has legalized his|her immigration status, the USCIS Handbook for Employers advises the employer to complete a new Form I-9 with the original hire date and new documentation, and attach it to the old Form I-9 with an explanation. The employer is not required to terminate the employee.
Yet, if the employer rejected valid work-authorization or terminated the employee, such actions could result in a violation of the anti-discrimination provision of the INA on the grounds of citizenship and|or national origin discrimination and document abuse (employers cannot reject valid Form I-9 documentation). OSC opined that the employer would then be tasked with providing a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for termination.

The Data Accountability and Trust Act (DATA Act), (H.R. 580), has been introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill would provide a nationwide data security standard, backed by FTC enforcement and civil penalties, as well as provisions requiring notification to affected individuals in the event of a data breach. Meanwhile, a similar bill, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act (S. 177) was introduced in the Senate.
According to the release, Commercial entities that own or process personal information would be required to implement effective information security procedures and policies to safeguard that information. Following a breach, entities would have to notify the affected individuals, in addition to the FTC. The FTC and state attorney generals would enforce the provisions of the bill, which would allow for civil penalties of up to $5 million for violations.