Mackenzie Hughes forms practice group to help employers who hire foreign nationals

SYRACUSE — An increasing number of foreign nationals are coming to the United States for jobs these days, and that means employers hiring them need to be on top of the regulations and paperwork required for such employment.

That’s why Syracuse–based law firm Mackenzie Hughes LLP recently formed a practice group specifically dedicated to immigration and labor practice. The group is headed up by Ramon Rivera.

“We saw that our clients are becoming more involved in the global marketplace by hiring foreign nationals,” Rivera says. In the Syracuse area, there is evidence of this at the Syracuse VA Medical Center, which employs foreign doctors; Syracuse University, which hires teachers from overseas; and the pharmaceutical industry, which employs international engineers, he says.

Employers must consider numerous issues and properly document them when hiring foreign nationals, Rivera says, and that is where Mackenzie Hughes’ new practice group can help.

Compliance issues are different than when a company hires a U.S. citizen, Rivera explains. When hiring foreign nationals, a company must document the position the person is hired for as well as the salary paid, and then must not veer from that, he says. That means if a company hires a foreign national as an engineer, they cannot have that person performing other job duties unless it amends the paperwork to note this. It also means that foreign nationals must be paid the prevailing wage for their work.

This is done, Rivera says, to protect both foreign nationals and U.S. workers. This measure ensures that foreign nationals are not underpaid for their work and it also ensures they aren’t overpaid and therefore depriving U.S. workers of wages.

“Some employers are not aware of this,” Rivera notes of the compliance requirements. “The fines and penalties can be substantial,” for businesses that don’t comply, he adds.

Avoiding the issue isn’t as simple as refusing to hire foreign nationals, Rivera cautions. Companies also face consequences if they discriminate against international job applicants.

Rivera says the firm was seeing clients facing a number of issues concerning international workers — enough that it made sense to form the practice group to serve those needs specifically.

“Syracuse is a smaller market, but we are becoming members of the global marketplace,” he says.

The Mackenzie Hughes immigration and labor practice group includes five other attorneys who also have experience in other areas such as business and litigation. Those attorneys are Jeffrey Brown, Mary Anne Cody, Christian Jones, Jacqueline Jones, and Michael Stanczyk.

As head of the practice group, Rivera brings a great deal of experience to the table. With Mackenzie Hughes since 2001, Rivera has handled immigration and naturalization law for the firm. Prior to joining the firm, he was managing partner at Micale & Rivera, LLP, and a solo practitioner at Rivera Law Firm, where he also focused on immigration-related issues.

Rivera also served as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University, where he taught immigration law and policy.

Headquartered at 101 S. Salina St., Mackenzie Hughes (www.mackenziehughes.com) has about 35 lawyers on staff and works with clients such as the city of Syracuse, Cazenovia College, Empower Federal Credit Union, and O’Brien & Gere. The law firm’s practice areas include business, litigation, trusts and estates, commercial insurance, financial, municipal, labor disputes, immigration, and environmental law.

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