The typical penalty for a first-time offender when it comes to hiring illegal workers is a fine. There are typically just civil penalties in this event. However, the amount can be pretty steep with some penalties climbing as high as $3,000 per worker for even a first-time offense. No one wants to be in that situation, but that is the only the beginning of the problems for those who are repeat offenders.
A second offense can cost between $3,200 and $6,500 per worker. It only continues to escalate from there. One might reasonably say that they did not realize that they had hired someone who was in the country without proper documentation on their first time around, but it becomes a lot harder to make that case when it continues to happen time and time again. That is when the forces that be really start to step in and push back on those who continue to break the employment laws.
There can be a pattern of illegal activity going on when one continues to hire illegal workers time and time again. It is something that is clearly unacceptable when there are so many workers in the country legally who would very much like to have a fair shot at getting a job as well. The excuses get pretty limited when someone has been found guilty of making these same mistakes over and over again.
Stricter penalties come into place for those who are found to be “harboring” undocumented immigrants from ICE. Those people can get up to 10 years in prison and can be held responsible in other ways as well. The country does not take too well to those who make the active choice to continue to shield people from the proper authorities when they know that this is not what they are allowed to or should be doing.
It is a good idea to hire a lawyer right away if there is any fear whatsoever that you may have hired someone illegally in the country. The lawyer can go to work immediately to discover if the person truly is illegally in the country, and they can work to put up a proper defense for you against these charges. Lawyers always tell their clients that they are ways that even some of the most serious offenses can be blunted with the help of a good lawyer. That is ideally what a person should try to do with the legal assistance that they receive. They should make sure that they have someone that knows the law and knows how to handle when they get into a circumstance where they may be in legal trouble.
Never think that you won’t be the one who ends up in a situation that you find difficult to get out of. People frequently think that they won’t be someone who has to worry about the law coming after them, but even a simple slip-up can cause major problems and result in someone who has otherwise stayed within the law getting into deeper trouble than they even thought possible. Avoid this scenario for yourself and start by getting a quality lawyer.
