Employers looking to retain current foreign national employees or attract highly skilled talent should consider adding the National Interest Waiver to their immigration sponsorship toolset. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,...more
Over 11 million people are likely in the United States without legal authorization to work, accounting for over 3% of our workforce. This often forces employers to choose between essential employment compliance and economic...more
The USCIS approach to immigration compliance is changing rapidly as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic. While employers must use Form I-9 to verify employment eligibility, it is an often-overlooked requirement that may open...more
“For too long, workers have been getting stiffed. But not anymore. We’re beginning to restore the dignity of work.” With these words, spoken by President Biden midway through his State of the Union address Tuesday night,...more
2/10/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Employee Benefits ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Reform ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Relations ,
Medical Leave ,
Minimum Wage ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Paid Leave ,
State of the Union ,
Wage and Hour
Employers in the U.S. would face significant increases in filing fees for many employment-based petitions under a recent USCIS proposal. The changes would place the burden on employers to cover the cost of processing complex...more
It’s never easy to make accurate predictions about what we might expect to see in the workplace in the coming year. After all, at the start of 2020, no one could have predicted COVID-19. None of us had heard the phrase “the...more
1/3/2023
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Labor Relations ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Privacy Laws ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
It’s never easy to make accurate predictions about what we might expect to see in the workplace in the coming year. After all:
- At the start of 2020, no one could have predicted COVID-19.
- None of us had heard the phrase...more
11/1/2022
/ Affirmative Action ,
Background Checks ,
Blockchain ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Labor Relations ,
Leave of Absence ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Trade Secrets ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Welcome to FP Forecast, a monthly outlook featuring Fisher Phillips thought leaders providing their insights into what employers can expect in 2022 and beyond. By following along each month, you’ll be in the best position to...more
It’s been said that from crisis comes opportunity. And given that the COVID-19 pandemic has handed us the greatest collective crisis in our lifetimes, it should stand to reason that we should now be in the perfect position to...more
5/3/2021
/ Business Operations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Gig Economy ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Labor Relations ,
Legal Operations ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
A federal judge recently struck down the Trump administration’s recent efforts to significantly restrict the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides protection from deportation for approximately...more
While the election results may still be debated until officially certified and litigation is resolved, employers should be looking ahead to what a Biden administration will mean for immigration. Prior to this tumultuous year,...more
11/16/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Border Security ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DACA ,
Dream Act ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Green Cards ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Immigration Reform ,
Municipalities ,
Public Charge ,
Seasonal Workers ,
USCIS ,
Visas
Many businesses already facing COVID-19 coronavirus-related threats to the bottom line are now besieged on another front as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has ramped up the I-9 workplace inspections central to...more
3/17/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Inspections ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
Workplace Investigations
The Social Security Administration recently resurrected its practice of issuing Employer Correction Request notices – also known as “no-match letters” – when it receives employee information from an employer that does not...more
5/8/2019
/ Books & Records ,
E-Verify ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
IRS ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Social Security Administration (SSA) ,
Undocumented Immigrants ,
Verification Requirements
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently proposed a new rule that could dramatically change the way the H-1B application process works. The rule would establish an electronic pre-registration system and run the...more
12/18/2018
/ Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Filing Requirements ,
Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Lottery ,
New Rules ,
Proposed Rules ,
Registration ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
In the past week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has significantly increased the number of Notices of Inspection issued to employers nationwide, leading to a dramatic spike in I-9 audits. Unlike the enforcement...more
7/23/2018
/ Audits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Eligibility Verification ,
Form I-9 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Raids ,
Risk Management ,
Sanctuary Cities ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants
It’s no secret that immigration compliance is a priority to the Trump administration, so the recent announcement that it expects the number of worksite investigations to quadruple in coming years should come as no surprise....more
3/9/2018
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Form I-9 ,
Franchises ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
Raids ,
Trump Administration ,
Undocumented Immigrants
It might seem like just yesterday that employers were told that they needed to use a new version of the Form I-9, the document verifying the identity of new hires to ensure they are authorized to work in the United States....more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. April 2017 was another month...more
5/5/2017
/ Computer Programmers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Drivers ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Facebook ,
Gig Economy ,
H-1B ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Reform ,
Independent Contractors ,
LGBTQ ,
Misclassification ,
NLRB ,
Obscenity ,
On-Demand Services ,
OSHA ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Salary/Wage History ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sovereign Immunity ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subpoenas ,
Title VII ,
Tribal Employees ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Young Lawyers
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced earlier this week that it received 199,000 H-1B petitions for the FY 2018 H-1B cap. As usual, this far exceeds the total allocation of 65,000...more
4/20/2017
/ Foreign Workers ,
H-1B ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigrants ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Immigration Reform ,
Lottery ,
USCIS ,
Visa Caps ,
Visas
No new hire has ever been accused of enjoying the time spent filling out the myriad forms they must execute at the outset of their employment. Likewise, it would be a curious manager who listed “helping new hires with...more
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released the new form I-9 dated November 14, 2016. Although you may accept the prior version of the Form I-9 for the next two months, you will be required to use this new...more