It’s illegal to hire people who aren’t legally eligible to work in the United States. My husband’s trucking company has six drivers. We’re required to fill out a I-9 form for every person we hire.
The rule is one document from list A OR one document from list B AND one document from list C but never require more than one document from list A or require more than two list B and C documents. The part of not requiring extra documents is what’s required to steer clear of anti-discrimination laws.
It’s also illegal to tell new employees which documents from the lists they have to provide. We have to accept the one document from list A or the two documents from list C that the new employee has.
It looks like what Covenant did wrong was they asked non-citizens specifically for the United States Permanent Resident ID card from list A. That’s obviously illegal and their hiring department should’ve known better.
“Employers cannot discriminate against non-U.S. citizens by demanding specific or unnecessary documents from them to prove their permission to work,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring compliance with our federal civil rights laws so that non-U.S. citizens with permission to work can contribute their talents to our workforce.”
For trucking companies this is a moot point. It’s true that some states issue driver’s licenses to people who aren’t legally in the country, but right now no states issue commercial driver’s licenses, which is the license needed to drive a truck, to those who aren’t in the country legally.
A possible way around this is if the person who is illegally in the US already has a commercial driver’s license from their home country, which practically would only apply to Mexicans and Canadians.
We can legally hire someone with a Canadian or Mexican CDL as long as Canada or Mexico is their legal residence, but every load we give them could only go between the US and their own country. They wouldn’t be allowed to both pick up and deliver in the United States.
Livvie 