Dyann DelVeccio Quoted in Business Insurance
“Employment case highlights problem with hiring illegals”

In the October 16 issue of Business Insurance, Dyanne DelVeccio is quoted in an article [“Employment case highlights problem with hiring illegals”] about employers who missed “forgiveness application” deadlines for illegal immigrants. In a suit filed against Wendy's International Inc. and subsidiary Cafe Express L.L.C, a group of illegal immigrants claimed that the defendants ruined the plaintiffs' opportunity to attain legal U.S. residency and citizenship. They were denied the opportunity to participate in a program Congress created in 2001 that allowed employed illegals to attain permanent U.S. residency if they paid a fine and admitted that they entered the country illegally, but which required them to leave the country and not seek residency for 10 years if they missed the April 30, 2001 deadline.

Wendy’s created its own corporate program to facilitate its workers filings and missed the deadline, yet plaintiffs claim they were assured that the applications were filed and being processed and were still contributing from their payroll to cover legal fees for the process. This past summer, some of the plaintiffs were terminated and told that Wendy's just learned of the filing problem and no longer could knowingly employ illegal immigrants.

Even employers that did not have such programs but knew they employed illegal immigrants might face legal problems, said employer attorney Dyann DelVecchio, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P in Boston. The law is unclear about whether such employers were obliged to assist illegal workers in filing their applications, she said.

But a lawsuit does not shield the plaintiffs from U.S. immigration laws, Ms. DelVecchio said. She questioned how many potential plaintiffs would risk exposing their illegal status by filing lawsuits.