American Apparel announces developments regarding inspection by ICE
01 Jul '09
4 min read
Peter Schey, an attorney who has been representing American Apparel in ICE's I-9 inspection, noted: “Unfortunately, companies like American Apparel do not have access to the government's files that establish whether individuals are legally authorized to work in the United States, nor have they historically had access to reliable methods to discern the authenticity of identification documents presented by job applicants.
Given the large number of people who are believed to reside in the United States without proper documentation, estimated by some to be as high as 12 million, a review of I-9 documents of any manufacturing or service business in areas with large immigrant communities would likely disclose a significant number of workers who used invalid documents to gain employment, regardless of an employer's compliance with I-9 laws and rules.”
The Company believes that its current surplus levels of inventory and production capacity will mitigate the adverse impact of any disruption to its manufacturing activities that may potentially result from the loss of these employees. To the extent that the Company may need to hire replacement workers, the Company presently believes it would only need to hire for a fraction of those employees that would be terminated. The Company currently has a significant backlog of active job applications. As the ultimate impact on the Company is difficult to predict at this time, no assurances can be given as to how, if at all, the loss of a significant number of manufacturing employees will affect the Company's business and operations.
The Company intends to cooperate with ICE to determine an appropriate timetable for the Company to complete an orderly verification of these employees' identification and employment eligibility documents. The Company also intends to fully respect the rights of its employees during this process.
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