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  • USCIS Announces Revised Form I-9
    • U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a Notice today in the Federal Register announcing a revised Form I-9. For more information, click here for details from our affiliate consulting firm, Workplace HR.
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  • OFCCP Issues New Compensation Directive and Rescinds Voluntary Guidelines and Compensation Standards

    • The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced today, February 26, that effective February 28, 2013 there will be significant changes in how the OFCCP addresses compensation in compliance audits and enforcement proceedings. These changes effectively open virtually every federal contractor’s actions, policies and practices that affect compensation to scrutiny, review and possible challenge by OFCCP.

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  • 2013 OFCCP Criminal Record Directive
    • The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released a new Directive 306 on “Complying with Nondiscrimination Provisions: Criminal Record Restrictions and Discrimination Based on Race and National Origin.” The OFCCP’s Criminal Record Directive issued January 29, 2013, and is effectively immediately.
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Parts of Arizona Immigration Law

By Judith E. Kramer

On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in Arizona v. United States, on the constitutionality of Arizona’s immigration law. In an opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor joined, the Court struck down the following provisions of the state law:

  • Section 3 of the law, which makes failure to comply with federal alien-registration requirements a state misdemeanor;
  • Section 5(c), which makes it a misdemeanor for an unauthorized alien to seek or engage in work in Arizona; and
  • Section 6, which authorizes state and local officers to arrest without a warrant a person “the officer has probable cause to believe . . . has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States”


For employers, the Court’s ruling on Section 5(c) is the most significant. The Court held that under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), Congress made a deliberate choice not to impose criminal penalties on aliens who seek, or engage in, unauthorized employment. Instead, under IRCA, employers face criminal prosecution for hiring workers who are not authorized to work in the United States. The Court held that Arizona’s “conflict in technique” is disruptive to the enforcement scheme created by Congress.   

The whole I-9 verification process can sometimes be burdensome to employers, and to the extent that Arizona and some other states attempted to shift some criminal liability to illegal aliens, that may have been welcome legislation. On the other hand, the Supreme Court’s decision underscores the importance of having a national immigration policy, and of not subjecting employers and other affected parties to a patchwork of laws.
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