Federal authorities are expected to announce tough new rules this week that would require employers to fire workers who use also security numbers in an effort to crack down on illegal immigrants.
"“We are tough and we are going to be even tougher,” Russ Knocke, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said yesterday. “There are not going to be any more excuses for employers, and there will be serious consequences for those that choose to blatantly disregard the law.” "
Employers, especially in the agriculture and low wage industries are deeply worried about the new rules, which could force them to lay off thousands of immigrant workers.
" Across the employer community people are scared, confused, holding their breath,” said Craig Regelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, a trade organization. “Given what we know about the demographics of our labor force, since we are approaching peak season, people are particularly on edge.” "
Immigrant rights groups and labor unions including the AFL-CIO are preparing to unleash discrimination against Hispanic workers complaint.
Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for Social Security estimates that an expected 140,000 no match letters will be sent to employers this year.
Homeland security officials say that stepped-up raids on workplaces will back up the new rules across the country that employs illegal immigrants.
Not only does falsifying or stealing somebody social security number harms the legitimate cardholder, it is also a federal offense.
It boggles the mind on how anybody can defend somebody else's usage of stolen identity.
3 comments:
How in the world can anyone say this is discrimination against immigrants? What about the people whose identity has been stolen and used illegally? Something is seriously wrong with this country. If this is the closest they can get to an immigration reform law, then so be it. At least it's something!
What would agriculture and production companies will do with out the labor of illegal immigrants? Who work for less money like they do? I would like to mention that there is no other ethnic race who work in our US fields. Without the illegal immigrants US would not have any profit, growth or production.
***Immigrant rights groups and labor unions including the AFL-CIO are preparing to unleash discrimination against Hispanic workers complaint.***
In an effort to protect our payroll clients, our firm is investigating the E-Verify system offered in conjunction with ICE and the Social Security Administration. It's free, can be used on behalf of the employer by their 'designated agent' and shows a pretty quick turnaround. Employers will know whether the person they've employed is authorized to work in the US and take action if they find the employee isn't authorized.
Now, for those who worry about it being used for discriminatory hiring practices, it is *not* allowed to be used pre-hire. It is *not* allowed to be used on employees already on the payroll, but must be used on *all* employees hired from that time forward.
So, if people have employees on their payrolls that they suspect are illegals, they may not be able to fire them and protect themselves and their businesses until they get that no-match letter. An employer can't even fire an employee because they get an error on an online verification mis-match.
But if it were me as the employer, I'd be taking these steps to make sure my workers were all legal. My personal opinion is that if you can't comply with the law and still be in business, you probably should never have gone into business in the first place.
But that's only my opinion.
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