From the Office of Special Counsel: Anatomy of an OSC Investigation

Posted by Dawn Lurie on March 15, 2012

The phone rings.

"Hello, this is Attorney Smith with the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, may I speak to the Human Resource manager in charge of your Form I-9 process?"

You say to yourself, “This is not good. I have no idea what this government agency is — Office of the Special Counsel for...what?” Your gut confirms: this does not sound good at all.

"This is she. I'm sorry, you are with whom?"

"The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices...the OSC. I'm calling about a complaint our office received regarding your company re-verifying Permanent Residents, requiring applicants to complete Forms I-9 before you offer them employment and, last but not least, asking certain employees to bring in Social Security cards."

You ask yourself, “Is this as serious as it sounds? What do I do now?”

The Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Investigations by the OSC should be taken very seriously. Our recent GT Alert reviews how the OSC investigates charges - including several examples - and the compliance strategies that companies should consider.

New Webinar Series on Workplace Discrimination

Posted by Dawn Lurie on December 16, 2011

On November 29, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of a live webinar series on the topic of workplace discrimination. The webinars’ debut coincided with the 25th anniversary of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which created the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). The OSC is tasked with enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination in the hiring, firing, recruitment, or referral of authorized employees, as well as unfair documentary practices during the Form I-9 and E-Verify processes and retaliation against employees who engage in IRCA or Title VII protected conduct.

The webinars are free and open to the general public. The first webinar, held on December 6, 2011, discussed the protections available to workers and their advocates. A second webinar, scheduled for 3:00 PM EST on December 15, 2011, will advise employers and human resources professionals on avoiding workplace discrimination.

OSC is hosting the webinar series through InstantPresenter.com and will also post short educational videos on Vimeo.com. To participate in a webinar, online registration at www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/webinars.php is required. To participate as a large or specialized group, please contact OSC’s Public Affairs Specialist, Terry Scott, at Terence.j.scott@usdoj.gov. For accommodation requests, please contact Lyn Sowdon at Lyn.Sowdon@usdoj.gov with your contact information and a description of the type of accommodation requested.