Fowler White - Employment & Immigration eNews

DHS Expands List of STEM designated-degree programs

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced an expanded list of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) designated-degree programs that qualify eligible graduates on student visas for an optional practical training (OPT) extension.

Under the OPT program, international students who graduate from colleges and universities in the United States are able to remain in the country and receive training through work experience for up to 12 months. Students who graduate from a designated STEM degree program can remain for an additional 17 months on an OPT STEM extension.

The new list of STEM degree programs includes such fields as pharmaceutical sciences, econometrics, and veterinary sciences. The full list can be found here.

With almost 100 new programs added to the list, DHS announced its goal is to help bring the best, most qualified international students to the United States. The announcement builds on a series of administrative reforms designed to further the Department's commitment to attracting international students. Information on the other reforms is available here.

Reminder: Non-immigrants Should Refrain from Name Change
While the rules for citizens and immigrants (i.e. green card holders) are different, non-immigrant visa holders are reminded to refrain from changing their names following marriage or other relevant legal matter. There is currently no mechanism through which non-immigrants are able to change their names on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents, and so a name change that does not appear on one’s DHS documentation can cause problems in obtaining a driver license and dealing with other agencies. Since immigration documents are needed to obtain a Florida Driver License, providing immigration documents in a non-immigrant’s maiden name and other documentation in a married name, for example, will result in the non-immigrant being denied a license. Non-immigrants are therefore advised to refrain from a name change until such time that they are able to travel abroad to obtain a passport and visa in the new name.

For more information on the expanded STEM list or name changes of foreign nationals, please contact Jennifer Roeper, Board Certified Immigration and Nationality Law attorney.

Duke Jacksonville Law Lunch

On Thursday, May 10, 2012, local Duke University alumni gathered at Fowler White Boggs PA for the annual Duke Jacksonville Law Lunch. The lunch program, “Law and Entrepreneurship at Duke and Beyond,” was led by Kip Frey—entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and Director of the Law and Entrepreneurship Program at Duke. Professor Frey spoke about entrepreneurship and innovation as means of addressing today’s social, economic, and political challenges. He also discussed Duke’s LLM in Law and Entrepreneurship Program—one of only two legal masters degree programs in the U.S. that train lawyers to lead innovative ventures.

L-R: Honorable Paul M. Glenn, Chief Judge, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division Honorable Gerald B. Tjoflat, Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Eric Holshouser, Shareholder, Employment and Immigration Practice Group, Jacksonville

18th Annual CPE Extravaganza Seminar

Fowler White Boggs and SunTrust will host a CPE Extravaganza Seminar on Thursday, May 23, 2012. The event will be held at A La Carte Event Pavilion, 4050 Dana Shores Drive, Tampa. Space is limited to 300. The program runs from 8:15 am - 4:05 pm. The seminar fee is $175 and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Eight hours of A&A credits are pending. Proceeds benefit the accounting scholarship fund at the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay. For more information on the program click here.

Companies Sponsoring 401(k) Plans Face Increased Whistle Blowing

For some companies sponsoring 401(k) plans, the next few months may be a period of whistle blowing -- with painful consequences. If these sponsors fail to comply with new federal regulations, employees may blow the whistle on them with federal regulators, potentially triggering costly fines and other sanctions and paving the way for employee lawsuits; most federal investigations of this type start with employee complaints.
Read full story at Smart Business.

Study Questions Employees' Incentives for Reporting Safety Flaws

Many employers are in the dark over whether their safety incentive programs encourage or discourage the reporting of injuries and illnesses by their employees, or if they have no effect. But a new report says employers, and the federal officials who oversee workplace safety, should care what effects the incentives are having.
Read full story at Insurance Journal.

Judge Strikes Down Rules Governing Union Elections

A federal judge struck down new regulations governing union elections, saying the National Labor Relations Board did not follow proper voting procedures when it approved the rules last year. Judge James E. Boasberg of United States District Court said the board had lacked a quorum when it voted on the rules that expedite union representation elections.
Read full story at The New York Times.

Reform Effort Creating a Work Permit Auction Floated on Capitol

America's decades-old immigration system should be replaced with an auction of work permits, says a UC Davis economist who is attracting attention on Capitol Hill. His market-based reform would have U.S. companies compete in a quarterly electronic auction to buy permits to hire foreign workers making U.S. firms' willingness to pay for work-based visas more important than family connections and fixed quotas in determining who gets to move to the United States.
Read full story at Mercury News (free reg. req'd).

Effort to Repeal New Immigration Bill Rejected by Alabama Senate

The Alabama Senate rejected an effort to repeal the state's tough new immigration bill. The Senate voted 20-14 to turn down a motion to repeal the immigration law, which critics and supporters have called the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in the country.
Read full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Anti-Family Responsibilities Bias Becoming Workplace Challenge

A creeping form of worker bias is gaining the attention of federal authorities and some state governments for the potential harm to family life. It's suitably called anti-Family Responsibilities Discrimination.
Read full story at The (Del.) News Journal.

Food Allergies Increasingly Present Challenges in Workplace

As food allergies continue to rise, more young adults with food allergies are entering the workforce, and employers should take notice. But while most schools have been dealing with the issue of food allergies for some time with parents actively advocating for their children, the workplace represents a new challenge.
Read full story at Forbes.com.

52% of Employers Offered Domestic-Partner Benefits in 2011

President Barack Obama's stand in favor of same-sex marriage has no legal effect on employers' decisions on whether to offer benefits to workers' domestic partners, but some advocates believe it could reinforce a decade-long trend toward coverage. Last year, 52 percent of all employers offered domestic-partner health benefits, with the percentage varying widely by region and industry, according to a nationally representative sample of about 3,000 employers surveyed by benefit consultant Mercer.
Read full story at The Kansas City Star (free reg. req'd).

Gay Man Sues Boss for Hiring Only Gay Employees

A gay man in Manhattan contends he was fired because he objected to his boss's biased hiring: The boss, he alleges, had a bias against hiring straight people. Jamie Ardigo is suing investor and entrepreneur J. Christopher Burch of New York for sex-discrimination and wrongful termination.
Read full story at ABC News.

Part-Time Stripper Fired from Newspaper Job Files Bias Complaint

A part-time stripper fired from her full-time newspaper job covering Texas high society claims she's a victim of gender discrimination. Sarah Tressler filed a complaint asking the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate the Houston Chronicle's decision to let her go after another paper revealed her second job.
Read full story at CNN.com.