> Lawyers in Florida are rushing to figure out how best to advise their clients regarding their hiring practices to comply with the law.
“It’s kind of extreme that Florida passed a law like this,” said Daniela Barshel, an immigration lawyer based in Miami. Typically, immigration is a federal area of law, and figuring out how to interpret these new statewide rules alongside federal law will be complicated, she said. Blanket advice, such as telling clients to avoid hiring noncitizens altogether, isn’t an option since that could constitute discrimination on the basis of race or national origin.
Why are they making it sound so complicated? Isn't that exactly what E-Verify is for? Is there any case with this law in which an employer would be penalized for hiring someone who is okay to hire under federal law?
I have always wondered if lawyers are allowed to advise clients to break the law. If they’d say “here is the saw you need to use to break into the bank vault” that sounds wrong, but somehow “here is how to break immigration law” doesn’t sound as bad and they can mention it the article discussing like it’s perfectly normal?
> Businesses that knowingly employ unauthorized workers could have their licenses suspended
It is illegal to discriminate on national origin, as long as someone is authorized to work. How carefully are you allowed to probe that authorization? What are the on-the-ground rules around "knowingly"? Now that penalties have been stiffened, I wouldn't care to be a test case.
eg you have a candidate with a plausible, but also plausibly fake, id. What is your exposure on both sides of the hire/refuse to hire?
Can they use shady third party contractors based in another state? That company will supply the labor and abuse workers while the Florida farms or construction companies will say, “we don’t know, we just work with this contractor company from $anotherstate”.
10 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 31.7 ms ] threadWhy are they making it sound so complicated? Isn't that exactly what E-Verify is for? Is there any case with this law in which an employer would be penalized for hiring someone who is okay to hire under federal law?
> Businesses that knowingly employ unauthorized workers could have their licenses suspended
It is illegal to discriminate on national origin, as long as someone is authorized to work. How carefully are you allowed to probe that authorization? What are the on-the-ground rules around "knowingly"? Now that penalties have been stiffened, I wouldn't care to be a test case.
eg you have a candidate with a plausible, but also plausibly fake, id. What is your exposure on both sides of the hire/refuse to hire?
As usual, pay more, but accept your strawberries will be dear.