Arnall Golden Gregory LLP is pleased to provide you with the Compliance News Flash, brought to you each Friday. This weekly update is your source for timely background screening and immigration-related news that is important to your organization.
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A few weeks back this publication flagged the Article 29 Working Party’s guidance on data breaches under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This week I want to flag the following guidance – “Guidelines on the application and setting of administrative fines for the purpose of the Regulation 2016/679” (adopted Oct. 3, 2017). The guidance encourages supervisory authorities to assess administrative fines that are “effective, proportionate and dissuasive” and states that the use of administrative fines should not be a corrective measure of last resort. The guidance spells out the assessment criteria regarding whether to impose a fine and the amount, considering factors such as the nature, gravity and duration of the violation, the intention or negligent character of the infringement, efforts at mitigation by the controller or processor, and other factors.
- In a sign of the times the Trump administration announced this week that it is ending another immigration-related program, this time the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Nicaraguans (designation ends January 5, 2019). No word on TPS for other countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Haiti, to name a few. Why does this matter to employers? Because in some parts of the country—with large immigrant populations—employers’ workforces are made up of such workers, who are lawfully authorized to work in the United States under the conditions of TPS. Once TPS ends for a particular country, nationals from that country will lose their work authorization and employers will be left picking up the pieces. It is important to note that many of these individuals have been living and working in the United States under their respective TPS designation for years. According to an article in the LA Times, “by far the largest number, 212,000, are from El Salvador; their protections expire in March. In all, about 325,000 residents from 10 countries, including Haiti, Syria, Somalia and Nepal, are protected under the program.”
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In other news – Montserrat Miller was quoted in an article published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on Nov. 8, 2017, where she provides insight on Form I-9 compliance issues associated with remote workers. The article by Roy Maurer is entitled, “How to Comply with I-9 Requirements for Remote Workers”. Form I-9 compliance for remote hires is challenging because the law requires that the person completing section 2 of the Form I-9 conduct a tactile inspection of the document(s) presented by the employee for purposes of establishing identity and work authorization. This means that employers need to have a trusted agent or representative complete the Form I-9 on their behalf for remote hires. Read more in the article and if you need assistance developing a policy to address remote hires and Form I-9 completion please contact me (Montserrat Miller).
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If you are in the Atlanta area I hope you can join me (Montserrat Miller), and my colleagues for our firm’s annual free Employment Law Seminar which is scheduled for Friday, November 17 at the Cobb Energy Centre. There have been many new developments on the employment law front over the past year—and seemingly every day in the news—so we think this year’s seminar presentations will be particularly relevant and useful for our attendees. My presentation is #FCRA: Establishing a Compliant Background Screening Program. Click here to read more about the seminar and click here to register. Registration is free, complimentary breakfast and lunch are served, and CLE, HRCI and CPE credits are available.
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In other news – in an article published by HR Executive’s Recruiting Trends on Oct. 31, 2017, Montserrat Miller provides insight on what small businesses can do to comply with increased immigration enforcement. She suggests that if a company is at all unsure of whether its employment verification processes are doing the job of screening out people who are ineligible to work legally in this country, now is the time to take a hard look and start making any changes or corrections as necessary. For the full article, entitled “How Can Small Businesses Comply with Increased Immigration Enforcement?” click here. For more about increase worksite enforcement regarding compliance with the Form I-9 requirements, click here and read stories #1 and #2. Kind of like, Thing One and Thing Two.
If you have any questions or need assistance on any point raised in this Compliance News Flash please contact:
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Montserrat C. Miller
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The information presented provides a general summary and/or recent legal and regulatory developments. It is not intended to be, and should not be relied upon as legal advice.
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