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Keith Covington practices labor and employment, immigration, and construction law in the firm’s Birmingham office. He counsels employers on a wide variety of topics, including labor relations, union avoidance, equal employment opportunity, OSHA compliance, disability accommodation, non-compete agreements, and issues relating to employee discipline and termination. His immigration practice includes worksite compliance and obtaining employer-based non-immigrant and immigrant visas for foreign national employees.

Beginning November 1, 2023, employers must use the new Form I-9 (rev. date 08/01/23) to verify the work authorization of their employees. Although this new Form I-9 has been available since August, until now you could also use the previous version of the form (rev. date 10/21/19). As of November 1, the old form is

This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a new final rule on the Form I-9 process. Under the new rule, the DHS Secretary may authorize alternative Form I-9 documentation examination procedures that do not require an employer to physically examine an employee’s documents in person. These alternative procedures can be authorized as part

If an employer hires undocumented workers, are they covered under the U.S. employment laws? Initially, employers must complete Form I-9s for all new employees and cannot hire workers who are unable to establish that they’re authorized to work. But once hired, the script flips and undocumented workers generally enjoy the same legal protections as the

UnDACAmented: Protections for Dreamers in PerilA federal district court in Texas recently struck down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – known commonly as DACA – holding that the program was improperly implemented by the former Obama administration and, therefore, is illegal.

Since DACA’s inception in 2012, roughly 800,000 people brought to the United States as undocumented children have

Extending the Flex: I-9 Rule on Remote Employees Allowed to ContinueThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued updated guidance extending the Form I-9 flexibility rule that temporarily relaxes the document inspection requirements for employers operating remotely.

Under this rule, which was first announced on March 20, 2020, if your employees are working remotely as a result of COVID-19, you may initially inspect those

Trump’s Latest Immigration Ban: Already Drawing Business Groups’ FirePresident Trump recently issued two proclamations suspending the entry of many immigrants and other foreign nationals into the United States. These proclamations have caused considerable frustration and uncertainty for thousands of U.S. companies that rely on foreign workers to keep their businesses running. If these proclamations stay in effect, they will block an estimated half

Even I-9s Affected by COVID-19 (If Operating Remotely), Plus a New FormThe newest edition of Form I-9 is officially here, and DHS has provided some guidance on how to inspect work authorization documents in a COVID-19 remote world.

The New Form

Last fall, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a revised Form I-9, which has an edition date at the bottom that reads “10/21/19.” Since

New H-1B Visa Cap Process Still on Track: USCIS Releases More Details on Electronic Registration ProcessAs we’ve previously explained, some big changes are coming this year to the H-1B visa process. Employers use H-1B visas to temporarily employ workers in “specialty occupations” – generally, jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher in a specific specialty or its equivalent.

Each year, the government makes available 85,000 new cap-subject H-1B