Thread: CA-ICE audit leads to 200 layoffs at Ranch Market

ICE audit leads to 200 layoffs at Ranch Market
By Jose Gaspar

An audit by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at four Ranch Market stores in Kern County finds improper documentation of employee's work records. More than 200 are laid off.


Story Created: May 11, 2010 at 6:17 PM PDT
Story Updated: May 12, 2010 at 11:46 AM PDT
Comments (19)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- For 11 years, Rocio Nieves worked at Ranch Market on Niles and Mt. Vernon streets in east Bakersfield. Tuesday afternoon Nieves and several co-workers were called in to an office and told by the company they were being let go because of discrepancies in their employment records.

"It seems unjust to me," said Nieves who has a family of four to support.

Ranch Market attorney Julie Pace said the company was forced to lay off more than 200 workers at its four Kern County locations, 2 stores in Bakersfield, one in Arvin and one in Delano.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted an audit of the company's employment records in November, 2009. Employers are required to complete and retain a form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States.

The form requires employers employers to review and record the individuals identity documents and determine whether the documents reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual, according to an ICE press release.

"We recently got a list and it identifies individuals names that require the company to let those employees go if they're on a list of having used suspect documents," said Julie Pace, attorney for Ranch Market which is based in Arizona.

People searching for work sometimes use fake or a social security belonging to someone else in order to gain employment.

ICE spokesperson Virginia Kice said no civil or criminal action is taken against an employer if it did not knowingly hire an employee without proper documentation and takes steps to rectify any situation where a discrepancy exists.

That is the same Ranch Market that was caught with 300 in Phoenix. The next day almost 900 people lined up for those job.

Ranch Market Fires Hundreds Of Employees
Employees Laid Off After Government Discovers Suspicious Legal Documentation
Christine Dinh

POSTED: 6:39 pm PDT May 11, 2010
UPDATED: 9:27 am PDT May 12, 2010

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A market chain with stores in Bakersfield has fired hundreds of employees, all of whom are suspected of being illegal immigrants. It was all part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement audit on the Pro's Ranch Market chain.

Since November, ICE has been conducting a legal status verification audit on more than a thousand 1,000 companies. One of them was Pro's Ranch Market, which has stores all across the southwest with thousands of employees. Here in Kern County, there are four Ranch Markets with hundreds of employees. Two of the stores are in Bakersfield. And there is one each in Arvin and Delano.

Tuesday, at least 200 local employees were fired for providing suspicious documents stating who they are and if they are authorized to work in the U.S., the company said. Those documents were part of the I-9 form that is run through a federal computer program called "e-verify." At least one employee admitted to ABC 23 he did not have the proper documentation.


"Yeah, they gave me 10 years of work,but it's unfair that a [Social Security] number is more important than a person. If they don't want illegals working in their market, then who do they think shops there?" said a fired employee who only wanted to be called "Rocio."

Each employee laid off was sent home with a packet explaining the audit, a final paycheck including any vacation time accrued. An attorney for Pro's Ranch Market says any employees who feel they were laid off mistakengly and that their documents are correct and legal should contact ICE to appeal.

http://www.turnto23.com/news/23524188/detail.html

I.C.E. ought to seriously investigate Vallarta Supermarkets that are all over California.

http://www.vallartasupermarket.com/index.php


[list]The founding members of Vallarta Supermarkets consist of five Gonzalez brothers and two nephews who come from a humble background. Their family roots begin in a very small town named Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, Mexico where meals of the four basic food groups (dairy, meat, grain, and vegetables) were not common to the Gonzalez family. The five brothers were raised on a meager farm the majority of their impressionable years. The parents instilled into their children at very young ages a strong work ethic which enabled them to overcome any obstacles that came their way. Subsistent farming was a normal way of life in this part of the world; everyone had to contribute to the daily activities to make ends meet for the household. When the opportunity arose to immigrate to the United States in 1960’s, the Gonzalez family was thankful to stake their claim in the “land of opportunityâ€

Originally Posted by Newmexican

That is the same Ranch Market that was caught with 300 in Phoenix. The next day almost 900 people lined up for those jobs.

Do you expect people to believe that Americans will actually do those jobs

Our president told Senators Graham and Schumer to contruct guidelines for immigration "reform" which included getting a supply of unskilled labor. Either your info is wrong or, god forbid, our president, Nancy Unamerican, and Harry Reid are all wrong.

"We recently got a list and it identifies individuals names that require the company to let those employees go if they're on a list of having used suspect documents," said Julie Pace, attorney for Ranch Market which is based in Arizona.

People searching for work sometimes use fake or a social security belonging to someone else in order to gain employment.

This is but one example of where federal law enforcement, under Obama's leadership, is refusing to do their job. These folks are being identified as illegal aliens, yet they're getting a free pass to move on and look for work elsewhere. Personally, I find it extremely offensive that our federal government is so blatantly conspicuous in their disregard for the immigration laws they've supposedly sworn to enforce?

Originally Posted by MW

This is but one example of where federal law enforcement, under Obama's leadership, is refusing to do their job. These folks are being identified as illegal aliens, yet they're getting a free pass to move on and look for work elsewhere.

The whole rationale for their presence is that they're doing jobs that Amerricans won't do. But we already know from the previous firings at the company's Phoenix store, that Americans will take these jobs as soon as they learn that they're available.

Since we don't need these people - and, I suspect, never did - it'll be interesting to hear the Obama administration's rationale for not deporting them.