Thread: Tucson: New immigration law has bosses in a stew

New immigration law has bosses in a stew
Must we be green card experts? one asks

BLAKE MORLOCK
Tucson Citizen

Jim Murphy knows seafood, burgers and how to run a bar. Now he wonders whether he'll have to be an expert on immigration law.
The owner of Kingfisher Bar & Grill and Bluefin Seafood Bistro in Tucson employs up to 100 people, depending on the season.
He fears that a new state law will be just one more headache for small businesses, albeit a possibly fatal one.
"The onus is on the businessperson to become an expert on green cards," Murphy said. "I'm not that."
The law signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano this month would suspend a license for at least 10 days if the business "knowingly or intentionally" hires an illegal immigrant.
A second offense within a five-year span and the business owner loses his license to operate.
All new hires must have their identification cross-checked by the federal Basic Pilot system. Basic Pilot serves about 17,000 businesses nationally and will have to ramp up to handle the roughly 140,000 Arizona businesses that soon will be required to use it.
What should businesses do to get ready?
"Our suggestion is that the people wait and see," said Abbe Goncharsky, a labor and employment lawyer with Lewis and Roca's Tucson office.
Too much could happen between now and Jan. 1, when the law takes effect, she said.
Napolitano has said she will call a special session of the Legislature to work out what she calls problems with the law.
For one, it does not exempt critical entities, such as hospitals and public utilities, from the commercial "death sentence," which could leave communities without basic services.
Also, the bill fails to distinguish between businesses operating at more than one location that could be shut down because of multiple infractions by a different branch of the same business, Napolitano said.
There's also no language in the bill to address possible discrimination.
This could be a problem as employers try to avoid hiring illegal immigrants, Goncharsky said.
"It's going to be a very delicate balancing test to make sure you are completely clean but careful about discrimination," Goncharsky said.
Also, there is no distinction between what a manager or human resources director knows about an employee's legal status and what the owner will be held accountable for, she said.
"If there's a reason the boss should have known, they are going to be held responsible," Goncharsky said.
Again, all this could be a problem or it could be changed during a special legislative session. Or it may still be applicable come Jan. 1.
Much of that could be determined by how much political pressure is generated in the meantime by business groups opposing the measure.
The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry is beating the bushes to get businesses to get in touch with the state lawmakers who voted for this bill and ask them to reconsider.
"The bill puts every single Arizona business at risk," said Jessica Pacheco, a lobbyist with the Arizona chamber. "The unintended consequences are anybody's guess."
The Arizona chamber recommends that every business sign up with Basic Pilot now and not wait for the law to take effect.
The Arizona Contractors Association and Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform filed a suit last week to challenge the constitutionality of the state's enforcement of immigration laws, which are typically the purview of the federal government.
Some business sectors are more affected than others by legal or illegal immigration, as a survey of immigrant labor released by the University of Arizona last week shows.
According to the study, noncitizens represent 30 percent of the construction work force and 44 percent of landscaping labor.
So far, the construction industry isn't fretting, said James Kuliesh, executive director of the Alliance for Construction Trades, an organization of contractors.
"My board members call about a lot of issues, but none have called about this," Kuliesh said.
Jan Marshall, vice president of Arcadia Landscape, shrugged off the new law as a nuisance.
"It will create a little more paperwork," she said. "But we do everything by the book."
She knows the landscaping industry has a reputation for hiring illegally but said her company has been audited by the U.S. Labor Department and "passed with flying colors."
What the law won't change is her company's need for workers.
"We have all the work we can handle, and we are losing workers," she said. "We have to turn business away."
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This type of reaction tells you how careless or deliberate they've been in their lack of screening employees in the past!

ignorance does not excuse breaking the law!! if they can't 'figure out' who is legal i hope they do go out of business!!

Jim Murphy knows seafood, burgers and how to run a bar. Now he wonders whether he'll have to be an expert on immigration law.

Not at all, you lazy sanctimonious jerk. Just use available tools to make sure you are hiring a LEGAL worker.

"We have all the work we can handle, and we are losing workers," she said. "We have to turn business away."

Pay a fair wage with, at a minimum, standard benefits and you won't have that problem.

If you can't trust your managers to obey the law when hiring employees, they shouldn't be your managers.