26 California Hotel & Lodging Association Winter 2015 Jim Abrams has written a more detailed version of this article that will be in the January Member newsletter and on the calodging website in the members only section. Members of the California Hotel & Lodging Association are welcome to contact CH&LA’s Member Legal Advisor (jim@calodging.com) to discuss these issues. For detailed information about no-match letters, see the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s “Frequently Asked Questions About Name/Social Security Number “No-Matches”” at ww.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/pdf/ publications/SSA/FAQs.pdf. Also go to www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/pdf/publications/SSA/ Employees.pdf (for employees) and to www.justice.gov/crt/about/osc/ pdf/publications/SSA/Employers.pdf (for employers). 2. California’s Assembly Bill 60 and Assembly Bill 1660 Prior to the enactment of AB 60 in 2013, California law provided that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) must require an applicant for an original driver’s license or identification card to submit satisfactory proof that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law. It also prohibited the department from issuing an original driver’s license or identification card to a person who does not submit satisfactory proof that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law. More specifically, the law mandated that the DMV required an application for a driver’s license to contain the applicant’s social security number and any other number or identifier determined to be appropriate by the department. AB 60 requires the DMV to issue an original driver’s license to a person who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that the applicant’s presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if he or she meets all other qualifications for licensure and provides satisfactory proof to the department of his or her identity and California residency. More specifically, AB 60 authorizes an applicant who is unable to provide satisfactory proof that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law to sign an affidavit attesting that he or she is both ineligible for a social security number and unable to submit satisfactory proof that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law in lieu of submitting a social security number. AB 60 makes it a violation of law, including, but not limited to, a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act, to discriminate against an individual because he or she holds or presents a license issued under this law. For more information about the effective date of AB 60 and how the DMV will implement this law, go to: www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/ pubs/newsrel/newsrel14/2014_71, www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/ pubs/newsrel/newsrel14/2014_70 (“DMV Lists Documents Required For New Driver License Under AB 60”), and apps.dmv.ca.gov/ab60/doc_req_ matrix.pdf (“AB 60 – Document Options for a California Driver License”). In addition, the Legislature enacted AB 1660 in 2014. This law also makes it a violation of California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FeHA) for an employer or other covered entity to discriminate against an individual because he or she holds or presents a driver’s license issued under these provisions or to require a person to present a driver’s license, except as specified. AB 1660 also specifies that discrimination on the basis of national origin includes, but is not limited to, discrimination on the basis of possessing a driver’s license granted under AB 60. 3. President Obama’s Immigrant Accountability Executive Action A recent article in the New York Times provides a broad outline of what this Executive Action is intended to do: It will offer legal documents to as many as five million immigrants in the country illegally, nearly double the number who received protection from deportation under amnesty legislation in 1986. Unlike that law, which gave permanent-resident green cards to 2.7 million immigrants, Mr. Obama’s executive actions will not provide any formal, lasting immigration status, much less a pathway to citizenship. The actions will, however, have a large and, White House officials hope, swift impact on the daily lives of many immigrant families, removing fears that relatives could be separated from one another by deportations. Many immigrants will also receive work permits, which will give them Social Security numbers and allow them to work legally under their own names and travel within the United States, although not abroad. In some states, they will be able to get driver’s licenses and professional certificates. (For more information, go to www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/15/us/politics/ obama-immigration-plan-could-affect-millions.html.) To see the blog that was posted on November 26, 2014, by Michael J. Lehet, who is an attorney in the Chicago office of Littler (mlehet@littler.com; (312) 846-7026), go to www.littler.com/globalmobility immigration-counsel/what-president%E2%80%99s-immigrationaccountability executive-action-pla. Obviously, the task of complying with the law when hiring immigrant job applicants and dealing with immigrant employees has become exponentially more complicated, and all lodging operators are urged to examine how to comply with all of these obligations and restrictions. HIRING IMMIGRANTS
CH & LA Winter 2015
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