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Rather than
waiting for the U.S. Congress or the
California Legislature to address the illegal
immigration problem, an Orange County attorney
is planning to file several lawsuits this
summer across the state against employers who
knowingly hire illegal aliens. The plan is to
invoke a 17200 cause of action or an Unfair
Competition/Business Practice under California
law.
The idea is
to eliminate the economic incentives employers
have for hiring illegal immigrants, a move
that would be unnecessary if only current
immigration laws were enforced.
The argument
is based on the premise that employers who
knowingly hire illegal immigrants and then
under-report payroll for the purposes of
California workers' comp premiums, pay few or
no benefits, and less than minimum wage are
unfairly undercutting their competitors.
"It's
not just employers who break the law. It's
employers who knowingly break the law,"
says attorney David Klehm, founder of Illegal
Employers.org, adding that some employers who
get back "no match" letters from the
Social Security Administration encourage those
employees to just get another social security
number.
A news
release put out by the Immigration Reform Law
Institute, says the lawsuits will seek
damages, restitution, and market protections
on behalf of law-abiding businesses. This is
the first time a state law as been used to
fight the effects of illegal immigration.
Klehm says honest employers have lost billions
of dollars to employers who hire illegal
aliens.
It's
estimated that approximately 2.2 million
illegal aliens reside in California. In
October, the Second District Court of Appeals
ruled in Farmer Brothers Coffee v. WCAB that
illegal immigrants who obtain their employment
fraudulently are still entitled to workers'
comp benefits.
(Article from WC
Exec)
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