Employers

IN an ironic twist, the company hired by the U.S. government in 1999 to help build a fence along the Mexican border to curb the flow of undocumented workers itself recently ran afoul of immigration laws. In March, two senior executives of Golden State Fence Co. of Riverside were each sentenced to six months of home confinement and fined a combined $300,000 for employing scores of illegal workers. Golden State Fence, which declined to talk about the case, also paid a $4.

Nearly two-thirds of employers that offer traditional pensions have closed their plans to new hires or frozen them for all employees, or plan to do so in the next two years, according to a study released Tuesday. The latest numbers show an acceleration in the decline of pensions -- retirement plans in which employers, instead of employees, are responsible for investing retirement money and providing benefits.

With the failure of immigration legislation in Congress this year, federal officials are planning a new crackdown on illegal immigrants that would force businesses to fire them or face stiff penalties. But the effort also could cause serious headaches for millions of U.S. citizens. In the coming days, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to issue a rule outlining how businesses must respond when they receive notice that there are discrepancies in a worker's tax records.

If the federal government follows through with its planned crackdown on illegal hiring, Los Angeles garment manufacturer Mike Lee said he will be forced to take on a new role. "All of a sudden they want the employers to act as policemen," said Lee, former president of the Korean Apparel Manufacturers Assn. "I am a businessman." The immigration regulations announced Friday could hinder industries throughout California and the nation, including agriculture, hospitality and landscaping.

A man with cancer whose boss threw away his disability benefits paperwork and a help-desk employee who was required to remain at his desk during an office fire were declared the winners of the second annual AFL-CIO My Bad Boss contest Tuesday. The cancer patient, using the pseudonym Pete Yonski, was the "People's Choice" Grand Prize winner and will receive a weeklong condo vacation and $1,000 toward airfare.

A coalition of labor and immigrant rights groups sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday to block the agency's planned crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, contends that the rules would lead to mass firings of workers who are U.S. citizens and to discrimination against employees who look or sound foreign. It also names the Social Security Administration as a defendant.

A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday temporarily blocked the U.S. government from starting its planned crackdown against employers who hired undocumented immigrant workers. U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Social Security Administration from sending so-called no-match letters to companies whose employees' names do not match the Social Security numbers they used when they applied for their jobs.

The Bush administration said it would modify its planned crackdown on U.S. companies that employ illegal immigrants, asking a federal judge to delay hearing a lawsuit brought by major American labor, business and farm organizations until the new strategy was completed. In papers filed late Friday in San Francisco, Acting Assistant Atty. Gen. Jeffrey Bucholtz told U.S. District Judge Charles R.

A federal judge in Phoenix cited benefits for legal workers and little harm for law-abiding employers as he refused to block the Jan. 1 implementation of Arizona's groundbreaking law to penalize businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake denied requests for a temporary restraining order or an emergency injunction to block the law passed by Arizona in response to the influx of illegal immigrants.

With a dramatic vote to approve a path-breaking bill late last week, the Maryland Legislature may have provided the jolt that could revive the comatose national debate over expanding access to healthcare. The Maryland legislation, which requires large employers to contribute to healthcare for their employees, apparently would affect only a single company: Wal-Mart.