Hiring illegal workers violates labor laws and can result in fines and criminal charges. Child labor and illegal immigrant labor are the two categories of illegal labor. The hiring of illegal workers can lead to unfair treatment, including wage inequality and workplace harassment. Critics argue that penalties for hiring illegal workers are too low.
The hiring of illegal workers is illegal in many regions and often carries severe penalties in the form of fines and criminal charges. By employing illegal workers, employers often subvert labor laws and violate restrictions on wages, hours worked and safety requirements. The consequences of knowingly using illegal workers or failing to do due diligence in verifying employment records usually boil down to fines based on the worker’s length of work and the amount of people illegally employed.
There are generally two categories of illegal labor: child labor and the use of illegal immigrant labor. Child labor is generally punished with higher minimum fines, as it is considered a violation of the rights of a vulnerable group of citizens. Despite popular belief, the problems of child labor are certainly not confined to Third World countries and the domain of sweatshop labour; in 2005, the US Department of Labor recorded more than 2,000 cases of child labor violations, resulting in more than 9,000 children being employed illegally. Child labor used for prostitution, the creation of pornography, or use in drug trafficking is often a serious offense that can carry severe penalties, including life imprisonment.
Illegal migrant labor is a much more widespread problem, particularly in industrialized nations with strong immigration laws. The hiring of illegal workers is a serious legal concern for a variety of reasons, many of which revolve around the desirability of unfair and wrongful treatment of illegal workers by employers. Because an illegal immigrant experiences the risk of being caught and deported, they are much less likely to complain about workplace safety, employer violations, wage inequality, or sexual harassment in the workplace. Because they are undocumented, an employer may be able to get away with paying them far less than the federal or regional minimum wage and easily circumvent health insurance regulations and safety laws. Workers who threaten to complain can also be forced or blackmailed into silence by employers who threaten to alert the authorities.
With the opportunity for corruption and ill-treatment so high, some critics and legal experts suggest that the penalties for hiring illegal workers are too low to make any difference. In many countries, an employer can be fined for hiring an illegal worker, failing to keep accurate records, or violating labor laws, but the fines can be largely offset by the profit of maintaining a low-wage workforce. without the added expense of health benefits or safety precautions. In the United States, employers who exhibit a pattern of illegal hiring practices may be subject to criminal charges and civil penalties, but this is not always enforced.
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