This past Wednesday Alabama captured the nation’s attention when a federal district judge ruled on the state's controversial immigration law, HB 56. "This is an Arizona bill with an Alabama twist," Alabama Rep. Micky Hammon, one of the bill’s co-authors stated.

A number of provisions make the Alabama law the strictest immigration legislation in the country.  The law upheld by U.S. District Judge Sharon Blackburn contains such hotly contended provisions as:

• Public school officials are required to check the immigration status of students
• Nullification of any contracts entered into by an undocumented person 
• Arizona's "reasonable suspicion" clause which grants law enforcement the authority to check the status of people they have “reasonable suspicion” of being undocumented and can detain suspected undocumented persons
  
  

Similar legislation in Utah, Indiana and Georgia has been blocked by federal judges.  As other states fight for enactment of immigration law similar to Alabama's, how should the meetings and events industry respond?  We’d like to hear your thoughts.

Associate Professor Tyra Hilliard from the University of Alabama recently conducted a WEC session which included the topic of state immigration law.  For information and updates on legislation and industry advocacy, stay tuned to PlusPoint and Engage.

I recently ran across the Hospitality Labor and Emploment Law Blog, which featured an article about the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) report on the H-2B program. At the risk of delving too deeply into a rather dry subject, I'll keep this short and sweet.

An H-2B non-immigrant visa allows foreign nationals to enter into the U.S. temporarily and engage in non-agricultural employment which is seasonal, intermittent, a peak load need or a one-time occurrence. This includes workers in the hospitality industry.

The GAO report found fraud and abuse in the program, including activities such as failing to pay the legally required wage, charging foreign workers excessive fees, facilitating the submission of fraudulent documentation to the government in order to secure visa approvals and abusing H-2B workers (confiscating passports, failing to pay overtime, charging excessive rent, etc.).

The blog notes that several of the cases examined by the GAO involved employers in the hospitality industry, and that the publication of the report strongly suggests the industry will remain in the "investigate cross-hairs" of the U.S. immigration enforcement authorities. They're looking for employers who misuse the program for a competitive advantage or provide false or misleading information to recruiters to assist in the procurement of new employees.

So what do you think? As the human component of the CSR equation begins to take center stage, will hospitality companies face increased scrutiny--and if so, what impact will be felt?