Contractor Update - Illegal Workers Could Cost You
Monday, August 20, 2007
The Department of Homeland Security, on August 12th, issued a new workplace rule that could affect every small business in the construction or remodeling industry. This new rule is a crackdown by the Federal Government to keep companies from hiring undocumented workers. It is called the “No Match” regulation and it means that your business has 90 days to match a new employee’s documents to those on file with the Social Security Administration. Failure to do so could mean fines up to $10,000.This new rule could cause a lot of problems for small businesses. Many companies do not have the resources to follow up on all the human resources paperwork. They will need to make sure each and every employee not only has the proper documents but that the documents are authentic. It could also lead to discrimination lawsuits if companies fire workers who really do have proper paperwork.
The onus will be on contractors and service companies that hire employees to become masters of document checking and making sure the information matches what the SSA has in their database. If the government does find a person not eligible to work in the country on your payroll, it will still need to prove that you knowingly hired this person but it could prove expensive. So, for any new hire, your company has 90 days to verify their identity and eligibility to work in the United States.
Labels: Small Business Advice
