Georgia's Immigration Crackdown is a Reminder to Use Employees Instead of Likely Misclassified Subs

The Peach State is moving forward with its plans to ensure, as much as possible, that workers are not undocumented immigrants. The law has been in effect for three years now and this latest move tightens the screws on employers even further.

A major piece of the law, The Illegal Immigration and Enforcement Act, is the requirement that all employers with more than 10 workers on payroll must use the E-Verify system. Previously, employers with over a hundred employees had to do this. If they don't, they cannot obtain a business license in Georgia. This applies to all new hires and employers are not required to verify the immigration status of those workers who were with them prior to July 1, 2013.

Attorneys in Georgia have been blasting emails to employers to offer their help with this, saying in part:

The IIEA went into effect on July 1, 2011, but the E-Verify requirement was phased in over time. Effective January 1, 2011, the IIEA required all employers with 500 or more employees to attest to their registration and participation in E-Verify as a condition of obtaining a local business license. Beginning July 1, 2012, the E-Verify requirement applied to employers with 100 to 499 employees.

Form affidavits to assist in obtaining business licenses and bidding can be found here. The compliance deadline posted by the Attorney General on the Department of Law's official website can be found here. The law does not require employers to use E-Verify to review immigration status of already existing employees. It applies to the employment eligibility of all newly-hired employees.

There is no question this will make it more difficult to find enough workers who can pass E-Verify for large projects in Georgia. There are already employers that require E-Verify for their workforce, like Marek Brothers Systems, and those will be the companies able to meet the labor demands of large projects.