Thread: AL contractors watching closely reaction to tough GA IA law

Alabama contractors watching closely reaction to tough Georgia law aiming to weed out illegal immigrants

Some worry about spillover effect



Saturday, July 05, 2008
ROY L. WILLIAMS
News staff writer

Birmingham labor lawyers and contractors say they are watching closely the effect of a tough new Georgia law to weed out illegal workers.

The Security and Immigration Compliance Act passed by Georgia lawmakers was signed into law by Gov. Sonny Perdue in April 2006, just as Congress failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

The law was touted as one of the nation's toughest because it required government agencies and private companies seeking state contracts to use a federal electronic verification system to weed out workers in the U.S. illegally.

Starting this week, Georgia companies with at least 100 workers are required to comply with the law. The threshold was employers of 500 workers in the law's first year. Failure to comply will result in fines and possible license sanctioning.

Bill Caton, spokesman for Associated General Contractors in Birmingham, said there are concerns among some companies in Alabama that Georgia's new law could have a spillover effect. Construction companies in recent years have turned to Hispanic immigrants to fill openings.

"This absolutely could happen," Caton said. "The same legislation failed here because of a lack of time in the legislature this year."

One bill, the Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act, would have revoked an employer's business licenses regardless of efforts to follow the law on hiring immigrants if an undocumented alien was found on the contractor's job site, according to Chris Williams, government relations director for Alabama AGC.

Michael Thompson, labor lawyer with Lehr Middlebrooks in Birmingham, said Mississippi lawmakers recently passed a law that "is virtually the same as the Alabama bill that failed.

"The Mississippi and Alabama versions have more potential impact than the Georgia law because they created a cause of action where, if an employee was terminated while the company kept an unauthorized worker, he could file a lawsuit," he said. "That would open the floodgates against employers."

Thompson said the Alabama immigration reform law will likely be reintroduced next year.

"It's becoming a much more significant area of concern and exposure for businesses," he said.
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E-Verify is only as good as the enforcement behind it. Georgia enforcement has essentially been nil!!

Thompson said the Alabama immigration reform law will likely be reintroduced next year.

GO ALABAMA!
Sweet Home Alabama![/quote]