An immigration settlement agreement has been reached with Panda Restaurant Group Inc., which operates the Panda Express, a restaurant chain with more than 1,800 locations in the United States, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
The restaurant chain agreed to pay $400,000 in a civil penalty to the United States, according to the Justice Department.
In an announcement today, the Justice Department stated the agreement resolves the department’s investigation into Panda Express. The issue centered on reverification of noncitizens’ permission to work.
The department’s investigation concluded that Panda Express unnecessarily required lawful permanent resident workers to re-establish their work authorization when their Permanent Resident Cards expired, while not making similar requests to U.S. citizen workers when their documents expired, according to a Justice Department news release.
Besides the $400,000 civil penalty, Panda Express will establish a $200,000 back pay fund to compensate workers who lost wages, and to train human resources personnel on the requirements of the anti-discrimination provision, according to the news release. The restaurant chain will be subject to departmental monitoring and reporting requirements.