Abbey HR Services
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CV23 0UY
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0845 076 2289
Email: sales@abbeyhr.co.uk
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Maternity - the new rules
Immigration (Restrictions on Employment) Order 2007
A new system of civil penalties for employers who hire illegal workers comes into force on 29 February 2008. The key provisions are as follows:
- Employers who negligently hire illegal workers face a maximum fine of £10,000 for each illegal worker found in their employment.
- Negligent hiring occurs where the employer hires an illegal worker, but does not actually know the worker is illegal at the time.
- The amount of the fine will depend on factors such as the thoroughness of the employer's identification checks, whether he has received any previous penalties or warnings and his co-operation with the Border & Immigration Agency.
- Employers who are found to have knowingly hired illegal workers may, depending on the seriousness of the offence, incur an unlimited fine and/or be sent to prison for up to two years.
- Employers have a statutory excuse to avoid liability for negligent hiring if they have checked and copied certain specified documents relating to the employee before he or she starts work - the employee must produce one or more documents from a selection contained in two statutory lists.
- The two statutory lists are known as List A and List B - note that these have been revised from the two lists that existed under the old legislation.
- A document or documents from List A establishes that the worker has an ongoing entitlement to work in the UK.
- A document or documents from List B establishes that the worker has restrictions on their entitlement to be in the UK.
- If they wish to retain the statutory excuse, employers are required to undertake repeat document checks at least once every 12 months for those employees who have limited leave to enter or remain in the UK i.e. those employees who produce a documents or documents from List B.
Two Codes of Practice have been published by the Border and Immigration Agency on preventing illegal working. The first provides guidance on the new system of civil penalties and the other is guidance for employers on the avoidance of unlawful discrimination in employment practice while seeking to prevent illegal working.