Krispy Gets Kremed: $40,000 Fine Incurred for Immigration Violations; Enforcement Actions Increase Nationwide
It seems there is a hole in Krispy Kreme’s immigration compliance doughnut. On July 7, 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Butler County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office announced a $40,000 fine settlement reached with the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation for violations of immigration laws. ICE conducted an I-9 inspection of Krispy Kreme after receiving information from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office that the company had employed dozens of undocumented workers at one of Krispy’s doughnut factories in Cincinnati.
In other news, ICE recently found that nearly a third of 6,000 American Apparel workers may lack work authorization. Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel, said, “Many of these employees, some of whom have worked at American Apparel for as long as a decade, have been responsible, hard-working employees who have made significant contributions to the Company’s growth and success. As a company that prides itself on being one of the last major apparel manufacturers still making clothing in the United States, at a ‘sweatshop free’ factory where we pay our garment workers some of the highest wages in the industry, it is the company’s hope–and my personal hope as an immigrant myself–that these employees are able to confirm their work authorization so that they may continue to work at American Apparel. The company remains very proud of its track record as an advocate for the comprehensive reform of the country’s immigration laws.” ICE has also announced that as part of a new auditing initiative, 652 businesses around the country will be audited to determine their levels of I-9 compliance.
