How to Prepare Your Workplace, Employees for Workplace Immigration Enforcement

In this episode of The Workplace podcast, CalChamber Associate General Counsel Matthew Roberts, Sheppard Mullins Partner Greg Berk and Sheppard Mullins Special Counsel Andrew Desposito discuss the recent changes in how the federal government is enforcing immigration policies and procedures, and how employers can prepare their workplace and employees if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials show up.

In a previous podcast, they discussed what employers need to know about workplace immigration raids and Form I-9 audits, including California's special requirements for Form I-9 audits and how employers should respond to workplace raids.

Now, Berk and Desposito discuss the best ways that employers can prepare their workforce for possible workplace immigration enforcement actions, including ICE raids, especially as the federal government is focusing enforcement on sanctuary states and cities. They also discuss how employers should approach self-auditing their Form I-9 documents and practices.

Most important is that employers comply with the law by avoiding discriminatory practices when conducting the self-audit and not reverifying employees who are not required to be reverified.

Listen to the podcast to also learn:

• If employers need a written policy or procedure for how they and their employees should interact with ICE.
• How employers should train their employees to handle a workplace immigration enforcement event.
• How to talk to employees about ICE or law enforcement showing up at the workplace.
• What kinds of documents ICE officers might show employers.
• How to tell the difference between a judicial warrant and a civil warrant, and how employers should handle each kind of warrant.
• How to pay employees if they are arrested, detained or deported during an immigration enforcement action at the worksite.
• What specific industries, like schools and hospitals, should do during enforcement actions.

As the complexity of immigration enforcement issues continue to evolve, employers should partner with their legal counsel, especially in the event of a workplace immigration enforcement action.