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Bradley Harper is a member of Shipman’s Employment and Labor Practice Group.  Bradley’s practice is two-fold: he assists employers and individuals in navigating the U.S. Immigration system and he helps clients facing challenging and complex employment matters, including those related to discrimination and retaliation claims. He represents a wide array of clients, ranging from large regional healthcare systems and local school districts to professional and financial services firms.

Effective Friday, March 19, many of the mandatory practices that Connecticut required businesses to follow in order to reopen during the pandemic changed to recommended best practices. Under the prior guidance, Connecticut businesses were required to:

  • Follow CDC cleaning and disinfecting guidelines;
  • Require masks in all public settings where social distancing is not possible;

As of March 19, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) temporarily relaxed the Form I-9 compliance rule requiring U.S. employers to complete Section 2 of the Form I-9 in the new hire’s physical presence.  The relaxation of the physical presence rule also applies to the re-verification

An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ”) of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) recently ruled that an employer had to bargain with its union over efforts to correct I-9 deficiencies and to enroll in E-Verify. After undertaking an internal audit of its I-9 forms, a company found substantial noncompliance with I-9 form completion requirements.  Therefore, the

Following a trend seen in other states, Connecticut’s Governor Ned Lamont on Friday issued a new executive order changing the framework for handling COVID-19-related workers’ compensation cases. The order creates a rebuttable presumption that an employee’s COVID-19 diagnosis from mid-March to mid-May was an “occupational disease arising out of and in the course of employment,”

At 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on April 23, the Presidential Proclamation entitled “Suspending Entry of Immigrants Who Present Risk to the U.S. Labor Market During Economic Recovery Following the COVID-19 Outbreak (the ‘Proclamation’)” became effective for an initial period of 60 days.  The Proclamation may be extended beyond this initial 60-day period or otherwise modified upon

Tips for U.S. Employers of H-1B Employees:

  • H-1B employees must be afforded the same opportunity to work remotely as other similarly situated employees.
  • Employers of H-1B visa employees who are allowing their employees to work remotely should check the Labor Condition Application (“LCA”) on file for each H-1B employee. [Click here for additional information

On March 1, 2020, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will be implementing a new electronic registration process as part of its annual H-1B Cap Lottery. Given that the upcoming Fiscal Year 2021 (“FY2021”) H-1B Cap Lottery will be the first to be conducted using this new registration process, U. S. employers seeking to

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has published a final rule increasing the fee to use its Premium Processing Service from $1,410 to $1,440. The new fee will take effect on December 2, 2019, and requests for Premium Processing postmarked on or after this date must include the new fee.

USCIS offers Premium Processing

USCIS has announced that on January 2, 2020 it will dispose of its E-Verify records for cases that are more than 10 years old. Specifically, USCIS will be destroying its E-Verify records that were created on or before December 31, 2009. After January 2, 2020, employers will no longer be able to access USCIS’ E-Verify

ICE is now conducting worksite inspections for STEM OPT employers. ICE’s stated purpose for conducting these inspections, or “site-visits”, is to confirm that STEM OPT students are receiving work-based practical training that directly relates to their area of study. See our previous post. Since instituting its new “site-visit” enforcement measure, ICE has issued guidance