Immigration Lawyer: Whitman Failed To Sign Off On Housekeeper's Immigration Form

[avaistheone1]

Source: TPMMuckraker

California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman could potentially be held responsible for errors on her former housekeeper's I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form, an immigration lawyer who has examined the documents tells TPMMuckraker.

"There are definitely violations on the I-9," Greg Siskind told TPMMuckraker. "It's not unusual where we see an I-9 form like this where there's no signature, no dating, that it's an person who is afraid of being on the hook for documents that they suspect are bogus."

There is no signature on page 14 of the documents provided by the Whitman campaign. Suskind says that's a violation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Because this wasn't a temporary situation -- the nanny was employed for nine years -- Whitman was responsible for completing the I-9. The I-9 form provided by the campaign does not have the signature of either Whitman or an authorized agent like the placement company.




Read more: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/whitman_failed_to_sign_housekeepers_i9_form.php?ref=tn

---

You heard it here first Meg Whitman is in violation of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986!

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Drop out of the race, Meg

You lost...hoisted by your own petard :P

[jobycom]

2. No no! Stay in! Stay in! Let's buy her a bigger shovel!

This is great! I was bored to tears by the elections this year. Now I have a reason to wake up each morning. :rofl:

[avaistheone1]

3. Meg's nanny-gate is providing a regular boat load of laughs and surprises.

How can a supposedly smart woman, behave so stupidly!

[jobycom]

8. Ego.

She's been surrounded by sycophants so long she believes she's right about everything and she's the smartest one in the room. Now that she's having to face people she doesn't own, things are unraveling, but her ego is still there telling her "They are all idiots. They just can't understand your greatness." She's like every comic book and spy novel bad guy ever created, and twice as funny.

[avaistheone1]

11. Furrr sure.

I am thinking about our buddy George W. Bush tonight and how he was called the Texas Souffle because he looked good on the outside but was full of hot air. Well I think we got own California Souffle called Meg Whitman, but she doesn't look so good on the outside.

[peacebird]

15. she looks like Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) in drag....

[xxqqqzme]

29. 'face people she doesn't own' but is

trying to buy.

[olegramps]

19. These are the traits that lead to success in today's corporate world.

[karynnj]

34. Greed

Now, hiring an American to work the same 15 hours at $23 an hour and paying the same social security tax would cost the same amount - and IF that were the real job, it would seem to be reasonably attractive. Assume that she was honest and she paid an American the same annual about $18,000 for 15 hours of work a week - paying the same social security taxes. Would there be people willing to take the job? It is hard to believe that no one would not want that job. However, it is clear that the "maid" was the chauffeur for the kids in all their after school activities. If you assume that the maid was there for the 3 hours from when school ends and when either parent returns, that uses all 15 hours. That assumes they had alternative coverage when both worked late, school had a vacation and that Whitman handled the summer in a different way. Note that in addition to this she cleaned the house. Does anyone believe this? Allred charges that the maid was not paid for additional hours that she actually worked.

As a billionaire, who could have hired an American at the top wages, full time, this is just trying to get off cheaply. How much could she have saved over 9 years by hiring this woman? Assume that she hired one full time employee. What could the full cost to hire them, pay taxes, and give health insurance etc be a year? Let's exaggerate and guess she paid for a $25,000 Cadillac plan and paid her say $60,000 a year - full time at the highest average wage listed from a source found by google.

The difference between what she did pay and the very good pay proposed as an alternative would been about $70,000 * 9 years = $630,000 different. It also would make her an exemplary employer rather than exploiting an illegal alien - the charge that has not yet even been given attention. Remember, she is a billionaire, who had political ambitions even years ago. Given that, $630,000 would be a very prudent investment as well as the right thing to do - and that difference is assuming that the employee was needed for 40 hours.

[Merlot]

47. She probably has more than one person on staff

have you seen the size of her house? So though your math is correct, between gardeners, maintenance, cooks, and more maids (15 hours a week for that mansion???) there would be a lot of people on staff that she would need to pay. And we know that's not going to happen. Just like we know there's no way in hell that m aid only worked 15 hours a week.

[la la]

43. just for schitts and giggles---

i watched parts of faux last night, just to see where they were going with this...

shammity blamed allred and ms diaz, using mark schreechbox levin as back up

greta *palin lover* von whatever--ripped into allred---oooooh scary

o'reilly blamed brown

lost in all this is whitman's stupidity, ego, arrogance and taking responsibility---the right wing way---always someone else's fault...

sorry- i couldn't watch any more faux, so i don't know what other pseudopundits had to say! ;>)

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. shits and giggles?

LOL, today's GOP is absolutely the best at pure entertainment.

[yurbud]

4. she must already know that every penny she spent on this election was wasted

except to entertain us.

[avaistheone1]

6. Ahh, bread and circus

Thanks for the circus Meg!!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7vNdIdheK3w/S8YqDy4PGPI/AAAAAAAADS4/4B6qlWP02_w/s320/Bread+and+Circuses.jpg

[yurbud]

7. she thought she was on the other end of the thumb

[avaistheone1]

9. Heartbreaking

Meg, much like George W. Bush, was born on third base and thinks she hit a triple. In reality, she is stuck on first.

[yurbud]

13. I hope more rich people follow her example

blow a lot of their money running for office and then implode.

[NewJeffCT]

17. No, stay in and keep flip-flopping on your story and on immigration

and dig yourself a great big hole with those flip flops...

[No Elephants]

5. Go,Jerry. Go, Jerry. Go, Jerry.

[tomm2thumbs]

10. all the money in the world can't paste over this error in judgment and leadership

but heck, if she wants to keep spending it in California, by all means

she's still TOAST

[avaistheone1]

12. What do ya mean by that?

[tomm2thumbs]

57. that's

a great dwg of her - just one hairpiece short of WC Fields

too funny

[tomm2thumbs]

58. dupers

oopers

[TheWebHead]

14. it was probably put together by the placement company

I'm guessing they sent over two copies and told them to sign one and keep the other for records. If the docs were signed there'd be no violation because the perjury warning is "appear to be genuine". To me the husband seemed a bit naive about the social security thing, having the maid check it out assuming it was some clerical error, not knowing she was using fake documents. The detestable Gloria Allred is involved, it has nothing to do with the issues and leads many to be cynical of politics and qualified people to become wary of entering politics.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. I love your framing, in which billionaires are 'naive' about biz

basics. The documents were not signed, that is the point of this story. Not signed. Additionally, an authorized agent is legally allowed to prepare those forms, but the employer is still responsible for the content, and must by law sign the forms. Same as your tax forms, prepared by another, singed by the payer, who is responsible for all the content, errors and all. Try telling the IRS that your tax preparer should pay for mistakes you signed off on. Try sending them an unsigned form, prepared by yourself or an authorized agent.
Gloria Allred is one of the most successful attornies in the nation. It is her job to represent her clients, not to be liked by you, me, Meg or anyone else. She wins for her clients with regularity, and that is the whole of her job. If Meg and Mr Meg were half as good at their jobs as Allred is at hers, they'd not be in this position.
I'd love to see a list of naive billionaires. I mean, Mr and Mrs Meg would have lawyers on retainer, they did not ask about the forms because they did not want to hear the answer. They wanted to exploit, and to get a big bargain. On a person.

[stopbush]

30. Excellent post.

[Merlot]

49. I second that - Excellent post!

Naive billionaires = Jumbo Shrimp

[gateley]

55. He didn't make the billions, I believe he's a neurosurgeon, so maybe a geeky scientist

type? SHE'S the billionaire who should be held responsible. I'm guessing she ran the household and he just said, essentially, "yes, dear".

[Andy823]

25. Don't know about placement companies

But I worked in the agriculture field for years, and every one we hired, even if they were sent by the unemployment agency, "we" had to fill out the I-9 form using the papers the employee provided, and whoever filled out the paper work had to sign the form and we had to keep that form in our records, we only had one copy. I know a local orchardist was audited last year by ICE and they went through their paper work, including I-9 forms, to see if their employees were legal and their status had been verified by whoever filled out the forms. They had to fire around 800 people because the I-9 information was not valid, and they didn't bother to use e-verify to make sure the SS numbers were valid.

I worked for several big orchards and the owners never signed anything, they had the hired help do the paper work because whoever signs the form, and it must be signed, is held responsible for getting he proper information. Even when I worked for a small orchard, the owner did "NOT" want to sign the form because he knew that most of the workers were illegal, so he had his foreman sign up the workers.

I am pretty sure someone like Meg who had her own business knew this, and like most other employers who hired illegals she simply did not want her name on the form. I am willing to bet she had more workers to take care of her home, and work on the grounds. I wonder if any of those other workers had I-9 forms that were not signed!

[aquart]

35. e-verify?

Someone at DU was whining that he was a lawyer and HE couldn't figure out how to verify an employee's documents.

[haele]

41. E-verify -From 2002 on, when I worked shipyards, we had subcontractors provide us with the results

for any of their green-card workers or naturalized citizens. It's not complicated at all, no more so than worker's compensation or other employment paperwork.

From Wiki on e-verify -
"The program was originally established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot Program along with two other programs created to prevent illegal aliens from getting jobs.
... All employers, by law, must complete Form I-9. E-Verify is closely linked to Form I-9, but participation in E-Verify is voluntary for most employers. After an employee is hired to work for pay, the employee and employer complete Form I-9. After an employee begins work for pay, the employer enters the information from Form I-9 into E-Verify. E-Verify then compares that information against millions of government records and returns a result.<4>
On August 31, 2007, the program began to include biometric data to help enhance searches. The 14 million images kept by federal immigration authorities are being used in the program, and the government is in talks with some states to cross reference with state drivers license records.
About 5 percent of queries are identified as "not authorized to work".
A 2008 Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder states that the E-Verify system is 99.5 percent accurate."

It's okay for the average joe that doesn't have to fill out federal paperwork all the time to not understand it. Even someone who went to law school might not have a need to know to read and fill out the forms, because of the nature of investigation methods and contractual requirements.
But that's why they have immigration, employment and contract lawyers, to ensure that these type of issues can't be screwed up.

Haele

[aquart]

56. Thank you!

[Doremus]

52. So nice of you to help create plausible excuses for Ms. Whitman.

Are you working for free or are they paying you?

Just kidding. Not really.

[livetohike]

16. Rules aren't for the rich = silly us. Now she is caught and it's

a big one, so I hope all the money she has spent was worth it to her and I hope she slinks off in shame. Oh, maybe she can run with Palin and the campaign can be called Vote for the Dough and the Dodo. (no offense to the extinct dodo bird)

[xchrom]

18. another nail in the coffin -- what's not to like? nt

[TheEuclideanOne]

21. The Inernet is really responsible for Whitman's downfall

Nine years ago, you could really play stupid about something like this. I am sure that it was easy for Meg Whitman to know that the maid was illegal, but with all of those complicated forms and requirements, think that nobody would find out. If this were to happen about 10 years ago, it would be much much harder to show just how guilty she is, but today there are many different people who can put the pieces together.

[Change Happens]

22. please spend another $100 million Meg, our economy needs it!

[Hubert Flottz]

23. Laws are for poor people!

The top 2% are above the law unless they're democrats.

[Baalath]

24. I don't think we should be counting our chickens

I don't think an improperly filled out 10 year old form is going to be the tipping point. It might not have even been the Whitmans that filled out the form, per the link.

I think this might even back fire on us and we should be slow to declare victory. Some people will look at this with sympathy on her because they see it as someone who tried to do it right, but the worker still can sue her 10 years later. I don't think there is going to be much sympathy for Nicky. I worry the opposite will happen and people will blame Nicky.

[WeekendWarrior]

26. Maybe I'm wrong about this but

I think it's her reaction to it all and the fact that she's a fucking liar that's the problem. And her hardline stance against illegal immigration while employing an illegal... I don't see this backfiring at all.

[tinrobot]

28. So, you have sympathy for Meg Whitman?

Sure sounds like it.

I say let her twist in the wind like a pinata.

[stopbush]

31. Bullshit. I'm so tired of the "this may backfire on Dems" crap.

Meg has been a singularly unsympathetic candidate in this election. She's spent $120MM to Jerry Brown's 45¢ and she is trailing him by 7 points in the polls since the debate.

Maidgate IS the tipping point for Meg in no uncertain terms, because since the debate, she has spent her entire time trying to explain her knowingly employing an illegal immigrant. That's hurting her tremendously because she's been touting the "no amnesty" line as a talking point for her campaign.

As far as who garners sympathy from this, the next Brown/Whitman debate is set in Fresno, where 42% of the population are Hispanics, and most of them are farm laborers. Two weeks ago, Meg said that "Fresno is worse than Detroit." She's made 10 trips to the SJ Valley to garner R votes, and in the past two weeks, she's blown it all through her lame-brained actions. You don't think "worse than Detroit" and "9 years of employing an illegal" are going to be Topics One and Two in that debate? Guess again. And Meg's protestations that "we're moving on from that" only work in her sound-bite ridden commercials and in venues where she can run away from the media. That ain't gonna happen in a debate.

Why is it that whenever the Ds are ready to go in for the kill some R drags out the "oh noes, be careful, that might backfire" shit?

[xxqqqzme]

32. Maybe, if you had just hired someone 6 months ago.

Nicky was employed for NINE years. Whitless is in that privileged 2%. They had to have accountants, lawyers and every other profession doing all those mundane chores for them, like filling out forms. There is no excuse that works here. Blaming the housekeeper is like the CEO blaming his secretary for the missed deadline.

What I find so incredible is that after nine years of exploitation, she fires the woman on the spot. Doesn't try to help her, doesn't offer immigration assistance, just fires her.

Whitman is one cold piece of work.

[haele]

40. NPR had an immigration lawyer on; if the maid was worth 9 years of loyal household employment,

there were legal ways of getting her a work visa. And with the Whitman money, it would have been no problems, even for an unskilled laborer like a maid - or a gardener, maintenance worker, or chauffeur, to secure fastrack visas for all her household employees from the time she decided she'd run to just before she won the Republican Primaries. And there would be no problems biting her in the butt now, because she would have been showing the world "the way to properly handle immigration issues". That is, as long as her employment paperwork actually reflected the maid's job, because one of the first things the INS people do when they handle a "fixing up the paperwork" problem and issue visas to previously illegal workers, is to investigate whether or not the worker was in the country to be exploited and was not getting a fair compensation.
This policy came out of the Democratic "Nannygate" scandals of the '90's- there was no way to legally resolve an immigration issue if an employer fairly hired someone they thought was here on a valid visa.

Instead, Whitman promptly fires the maid, who probably had the most egregious case of possible employer misuse. She was supposed to be working only 15 hours a week? - I think that's about three hours short of the weekly schedule my father-in-law the former corporate executive and retired Colonel has their maid come over to take care of their house (at a little over 2K sq ft, not anywhere close to a Mc Mansion)
If the employment paperwork showed in a house of that size - over 10K sq. ft. - the maid would have been scheduled to work only 15 hours a week, she would probably only be coming in to assist the regular maid for the "heavy" cleaning - and probably wouldn't be known by name to any of the family members, because heavy cleaning isn't done when family is around.
So all of the other work she was supposed to have been doing would either be under the table - which is illegal in itself, or uncompensated, which is definitely illegal and exploitive.
Even if she was only being paid for 15 hours a week and the rest paid in room and board, that room and board must be assigned a wage value and counted as income - which means there would be an assessment on the quality of of the housing provision as soon as the employment paperwork was filed. Is there any paperwork showing an assessed value for benefits in lieu of wages?

Tax evasion is what brought Al Capone down. If Mr. and Ms. Whitman appeared to be scamming the system to evade paying legitimate taxes on legitimate employees, then that should bring them down, too.
Doesn't matter what the agency that may have hired the regular staff for them did, it's pretty obvious that they knew there was something that wouldn't pass the smell test, but went ahead with hiring someone with false papers to be cheap anyway, instead of being sure and perhaps shelling out another $10K or $20K a year for someone who either had the right papers to work or was a citizen.
It's like they were being too cheap to pay for quality and security of mind that they could easily afford - it would cost them less than a day of vacation at a high-end Spa resort or a day's shopping in Paris to ensure they had a legal maid. If they were really honest about it, it would have cost them a week's worth of vacation at the resort to ensure she was being paid fairly for her work and that their portion of taxes were paid.

On edit - I haven't called Ms. Diaz Santillan a housekeeper because the reports of her employement that I have heard do not indicate that she was hired to be someone working at the house full-time, which is what a housekeeper does. A maid is the one who comes in for 10-20 hours a week on contract to help with the cleaning. A housekeeper is there for at least a full 8 hours, and must legally be compensated as such.

Haele

[66 dmhlt]

33. Now that's some eye-popping spin-work you're doing.

I'm sure Meg appreciates it.

[aquart]

37. Thank you for your concern.

And welcome to DU in this trying election season.

[musiclawyer]

27. You think Brown knew about this

Like. Months ago. It could explain why he spent such little money this summer and let her waste her millions ?

[Brother Buzz]

50. No. He was working a straight Rope-a-Dope® strategy

Let her spend the money, take the punches, then start the campaign right on schedule and fight back strong. It was working well; he was ahead in the polls before this housekeeper debacle broke.

[ladjf]

36. Whitman may have made a $140,000,000 blunder. She is moving

up there with Tiger and Vick in the bone headed moves group.

[greiner3]

38. I haven't heard;

linda chavez come to meg's aid yet.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

39. *Dragnet Theme*

This does not look good, which means it looks good for California. :D

[alp227]

42. Americans for Legal Immigration PAC wants to put Whitman on trial

Right Wing Watch relays a press release by ALIPAC stating: "ALIPAC has called for arrests so that the courts can make the proper judgments on guilt or innocence in these matters. ALIPAC, the media, and California voters are not in the proper position to weigh Whitman's documents, claims, and alibis." ALIPAC compares Whitman to OJ Simpson even. So even a right-wing group has challenged Whitman in this scandal. Amazing.

[BobisKewl]

45. To get out of paying her the minimum wage?

anybody familiar with immigration law?

[colsohlibgal]

46. Another Wing Nut Hypocrite

These people are amazing with their audacity, and the people who blindly follow them are sheep masquerading as humans - and not so bright sheep either.

[Taverner]

48. Getting worse and worse

Buh-Bye, Queen Meg!

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

51. I know Greg Siskind personally and professionally

I've worked with him on occasion. He's a great guy and extremely knowledgeable in all things immigration. I agree with Mr. Siskind that it appears the I-9 was not completed properly and it was not executed as required.

[alfredo]

53. Will she be prosecuted?

[AC_Mem]

54. I'm an office manager

When we have a new hire, I have ONE business day to get the I-9 paperwork completed and sent to our corporate office. It is, by far, the most important task that must be done on the new hire's first day.

Not only that, you have to provide specific information and identification for the new hire to prove their eligibility for employment in the United States. Generally a driver's license, social security card, birth certificate, etc. In my opinion after personally processing probably 20 new hires over the past 7 years, this is not a simple oversight. This is a process that must be completed correctly and signed by the person who processes the paperwork for the new hire.

You would think that someone who ran a multi-million dollar corporation and who wants to govern the State of California would know better. How in the world would anyone believe she could run a state when she can't even manage government paperwork for her nanny?

[jonyfords09]

59. Immigration Lawyer: Whitman Failed To Sign Off On Housekeeper's Immigration Form

It is very good topic for discussion. Every one can share their thoughts about it. According to me i think that Immigration and Naturalization Lawyers in the United States work with many government agencies to help you with all of your immigration problems.