The Justice Department has released another press release detailing its recent settlement with Advantage Home Care, LLC, a home health care provider based in New Jersey. According to the release, during its employment eligibility verification (Form I-9) process, Advantage Home Care allegedly required its new hires who were lawful permanent residents to present more or different documents than other employees. The employer had refused to employ a new hire, whose social security number generated a false-negative on a background check, even after the employee had resolved the issue with the Social Security Administration. The pattern of practice of requesting different or more documents from a legal permanent resident was uncovered after this employee had filed a complaint with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Advantage Home Care agreed to pay $1,633 in back wages to the complaining employee and $46,575 in civil penalties payable to the government.
