Legal eye
New immigration legislation means employers need to be vigilant.
By Adrian Barnes, Barrister, Premier Legal LLP
The government has imposed a new system of penalties for employers who negligently hire illegal workers.
The new measures include a fine of £10,000 for each illegal worker found at a business and if employers are found to have knowingly hired illegal workers they can face an unlimited fine or imprisonment.
There are at least 430,000 illegal immigrants in the UK and many of these will be working illegally.
These new penalties form part of a wider ranging programme of reform for immigration controls which will also include the introduction of an immigration points system to ensure that only workers with relevant skills required in Britain will gain entry to the UK. The new measures will also include the introduction of compulsory ID cards for all foreign nationals in the UK.
All potential employees should be asked to provide proof of nationality and there are strict guidelines on what can be used as proof – the safest option being an EU passport or a visa giving the owner the right to work in the UK. It is understood that there are many forged documents in circulation and employers need to make thorough checks to see everything is in order.
Employers should remember that the £10,000 fine for employing an illegal worker is a ‘fixed penalty’ and applies to each worker found to be illegal. There is scope for imprisonment or an unlimited fine if the employer is found to have known that the employee was working illegally. All employers need to be aware of the regulations and take appropriate steps to protect their business by ensuring that they comply with Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act. This is the only defence if found to be employing illegal workers.
The National Audit Office claimed that it would cost around £11,000 to deport each illegal immigrant, so the new fixed penalty of £10,000 would go a long way towards meeting that target. With similar legislation in the US, Wal-Mart (the world’s largest retailer) was fined the equivalent of £5.8m following the arrest of 250 illegal workers after raids in 61 of their stores.
Whether this is good legislation is arguable: socially it is unacceptable to employ illegal workers and each illegal worker is taking a position that a genuine job seeker might have. The economics are that these workers are often paid below the national minimum wage and you could not employ a ‘legal’ worker in the same manner, making this exploitation so prevalent.
The important message today is that employers need to be aware of the penalties that can be imposed if a business has not followed the correct procedures when employing staff.
Adrian Barnes
Barrister, Premier Legal LLP
(www.premier-legal.co.uk)
