On September 6, 2012, the Haitian Neighborhood Center , affectionately known as “Sant La” and the Haitian Lawyers Association hosted a meeting with Ronald Lee, a Trial Attorney with the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration – Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). Mr. Lee met with local stakeholders and immigration practitioners to discuss the issues facing the immigrant population in South Florida.
Mr. Lee discussed the three primary functions of the OSC, which include 1) enforcement (by which individuals may file discrimination charges directly with OSC’s Washington, D.C. office within 180 days of the alleged act of discrimination); 2) education (through outreach and education program aimed at educating employers, potential victims of discrimination, and the general public about their rights and responsibilities); and 3) partnering with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to conduct workshops for employers to increase understanding of sanctions and protections against discrimination.
If you are an employer with questions about the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, call our Employer Hotline: 1-800-255-8155. The OSC is a section of US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which enforces the anti-discrimination provision (§ 274B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1324b. This federal law prohibits: a) citizenship status discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, b) national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, c) document abuse(unfair documentary practices during the employment eligibility verification, Form I-9, process, and d) retaliation or intimidation. For more information about the OSC, please visit: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc. For questions about more specific concerns, please call the Worker Hotline at 1-800-255-7688 or the Employer Hotline: 1-800-255-8155.
Story posted from December 2012 HLA Newsletter.
