Senate Bill 1001 Amends the California Labor Code to Expand Protection from Unfair Immigration-Related Practices
Senate Bill 1001 Amends the California Labor Code to Expand Protection from Unfair Immigration-Related Practices

Continuing a recent legislative trend, Senate Bill 1001 expands existing prohibitions regarding unfair immigration-related practices.  Specifically, this bill amends the California Labor Code to provide a civil remedy for an applicant or employee against any unfair immigration-related practice as defined by Labor Code section 1019.  Such “unfair immigration-related practices” include an employer requesting more or different documents than required under federal law for verification purposes, using the federal E-Verify system to check the status of a person at a time or in a manner not required, threatening to file or filing a false police report or a false report with a state or federal agency, threatening to contact or contacting immigration authorities, or refusing to honor documents that appear reasonably genuine.  In addition, the following practices would also be prohibited: discriminating against an immigrant with authorization to work based on having the status of immigrant, or attempting to reinvestigate or re-verify an incumbent employee’s authorization to work where not legally required to do so.  SB 1001 permits an applicant or employee suffering an unfair immigration-related practice prohibited to bring a civil action for equitable relief and any applicable damages or penalties, and would allow recovery of reasonable attorneys’ fees and expert witness costs if the employee or applicant is the prevailing party in the action.  SB 1001 will become effective on January 1, 2017.

This blog is presented under protest by the law firm of Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP.  It is essentially the random thoughts and opinions of someone who lives in the trenches of the war that often is employment law–he/she may well be a little shell-shocked.  So if you are thinking “woohoo, I just landed some free legal advice that will fix all my problems!”, think again.  This is commentary, people, a sketchy overview of some current legal issue with a dose of humor, but commentary nonetheless; as if Dennis Miller were a lawyer…and still mildly amusing.  No legal advice here; you would have to pay real US currency for that (unless you are my mom, and even then there are limits).  But feel free to contact us with your questions and comments—who knows, we might even answer you.  And if you want to spread this stuff around, feel free to do so, but please keep it in its present form (‘cause you can’t mess with this kind of poetry).  Big news: Copyright 2016.  All rights reserved; yep, all of them.

If you have any questions about this article, contact the writer directly, assuming he or she was brave enough to attach their name to it.  If you have any questions regarding this blog or your life in general, contact Kelly O. Scott, Esq., commander in chief of this blog and Head Honcho (official legal title) of ECJ’s Employment Law Department.

Tags: HR

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