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Two restaurants in Arizona, BKR Restaurant “BKR” and Barnett Taylor “Barnett”, doing business as the well-known fast food giant, Burger King Restaurant, each received a NOI on the same day in December 2007. ICE asserted charges against BKR for 87 violations, 22 of which were not preparing form I-9s and 65 were failing to properly complete Form I-9s for 65 employees. Additionally, ICE asserted a fine of $54,945 to BKR.
ICE charged Barnett Taylor with not preparing I-9s for 74 employees and failing to properly complete Form I-9s for nine employees.
Both BKR and Barnett attempted to give reasoning for their failure in preparing and properly completing I-9s, but in the end, the court rejected the reasoning and left the employer little defense. Even though OCAHO is trending reduction of penalty amounts, the court still requires employers to provide compelling evidence to support their claims and defend against ICE’s allegations.
OCAHO provided BKR and Barnett with 30 days to make additional filings in support of their respective positions regarding the appropriate penalty amounts and opposition to the penalties asserted by ICE. No penalties were assessed to either restaurant by OCAHO at this time.
The OCAHO decision for BKR can be found here and Barnett here.
Jessica Haefele
Corporate Immigration Attorney
THE MDIVANI LAW FIRM, LLC
7007 College Blvd., Suite 460
Overland Park, KS 66211
Phone: 913.317.6200
Fax: 913.317.6202
E-mail: JHaefele@uslegalimmigration.com
www.uslegalimmigration.com