Cherryfield Foods Dismissal of ICE Complaint

We obtained dismissal of a complaint filed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) alleging that our client, Cherryfield Foods, failed to comply with I-9 requirements making it illegal for an employer to hire an individual for employment in the United States unless the employer has complied with rules relating to verification of employment authorization and recordkeeping. Count I alleged there were 147 Cherryfield employees with I-9s containing substantive paperwork violations. Count II alleged there were 160 employees for whom Cherryfield failed to produce and/or never prepared an I-9. The complaint sought a total proposed civil penalty in the aggregate amounting to over $330,000. In response to the complaint, we filed a motion to dismiss, accompanied by substantial supporting documentation, arguing that Count I should be dismissed because ICE conducted the inspection in a manner that effectively precluded Cherryfield from correcting technical paperwork violations and completely disregarded its own internal guidelines, and that Count II should be dismissed because the employees identified in Count II were hired before 2006 and after 2007, or were grandfathered under the statute, and Cherryfield did not provide I-9s for the vast majority of these employees only because the ICE I-9 inspection request was limited to I-9s for 2006-2007. In response to our motion, ICE moved to dismiss the complaint and its motion was granted, relieving Cherryfield completely from any liability for the proposed penalties.