By Jennifer L. Lippi, SPHR, PHRca
California’s Assembly Bill 450 (“AB 450”), also known as the “Immigration Worker Protection Act,” was passed in 2017 in response to expected immigration actions by the Trump Administration. As we told you way back then, AB 450 in pertinent part, prohibited CA employers from complying with requests of federal immigration enforcement officials to enter non-public areas of the employer’s premises or to access, review, or obtain the employer’s records without a judicial warrant of subpoena and/or notice of inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms or records. AB 450 placed employers in the untenable position of trying to comply with conflicting federal and state laws. However, in July of 2018, a federal district court enjoined (“prohibited”) the following provisions of AB 450:
- The provision prohibiting employers from giving federal immigration agents access to the employers’ premises without a warrant;
- The provision prohibiting employers from consenting to federal immigration agents’ review of and obtaining employee records without a warrant; and
- The provision prohibiting employers from reverifying work eligibility unless specifically required by federal law.
As a result of the court’s ruling, California officials cannot fine employers for failing to follow those sections of AB 450. It should be noted that the court did not enjoin AB 450 entirely, so employers still must abide by AB 450’s requirement that employers notify employees and their union (if any) within 72 hours of receiving a federal I-9 audit notice.