For demanding green cards, Miami-based pizza restaurant franchise must pay civil penalty

The Miami Herald reports:

The Justice Department has agreed to a settlement with a Miami-based pizza restaurant franchise as a way of resolving an investigation over allegations that the company violated immigration law by demanding that foreign-born legal resident workers produce green cards as proof of employment eligibility but failed to demand a similar document from U.S. citizen workers.

A Justice Department statement issued last week did not say specifically what kind of documents would have been proper to demand from citizens, but the issue was not so much the document but that the non-citizens were singled out for allegedly discriminatory treatment when supervisors demanded to see a green card but did not demand a specific document from citizens.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring the rights of lawful U.S. workers to be free from discriminatory barriers based on their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin,” acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the civil rights division said in a statement. “Pizzerias’ responsiveness throughout the course of the investigation assisted in a speedy resolution of this matter.”

The settlement in the Pizzerias LLC case is only the latest in a series of similar cases that the Justice Department brought against certain businesses around the country over the past few years.

Imagine that.