Following federal investigation, 7-Eleven cracks down on franchises.
After nine 7-Eleven franchisees and store managers were indicted this week on charges of harboring illegal aliens, wire fraud and identity theft, 7-Eleven is conducting its own internal review.
7-Eleven sent a letter to 5,000 franchisees Thursday informing its franchisees of upcoming internal reviews. The letter was sent by 7-Eleven’s executive vice president and chief operating officer Darren Rebelez at 11:39 a.m. Thursday, NBC News reported. Rebelez noted that all franchisees are required to conduct an internal review of their personnel files to confirm they are in compliance. 7-Eleven corporate also plans to send field consultants and market managers to each of its franchises to conduct reviews on site to evaluate the compliance of the stores.
These field consultants plan to review I-9 documents, and if any are missing or in violation, 7-Eleven plans to issue a breach notice. If stores do not act to fix a breach, the result could be termination of the franchise agreement.
The federal investigation details continue to unfold. Investigators now say at least 50 illegal immigrants were smuggled into the country and at least 25 American citizens had their identities stolen as part of the crime ring. Stolen social security numbers were reportedly added to the 7-Eleven payroll, and a significant portion of the illegal workers’ earnings was then siphoned, according to NBC News.
