Severe penalties on employers of illegal immigrants09/04/09 / cata_european-union-news
The European Parliament adopted at its February session the Directive providing for sanctions against employers of illegally staying third-country nationals. Criminal penalties may be applied to deny this form of grey economy. Where the employer is a subcontractor the penalties may be imposed on its business partner as well. The Directive also aims at providing illegal workers with legal payroll.
The sanctions to be introduced range from minimum penalties, such as fines, retroactive payment of salaries and banning access to public contracts for up to five years, to criminal penalties for the most severe offences. The amount of the fine should be based on the number of illegal workers. The employer shall further be obliged to pay the social security contributions and tax that it would be obliged to pay if the person in question had been employed legally.
The wages and bonuses paid to such persons shall be subject to the legal provisions on minimum wages or the collective agreement applicable to the particular industry.
Criminal penalties shall be imposed to punish the most severe offences, such as the employment of a large number of illegal immigrants or employment of minors or individuals who are victims of human trafficking, work conditions that verge on exploitation or repeated violation of rules in this area.
Should a subcontractor commit the offence of employing illegal workers, the contractor who hired the subcontractor shall be held partially liable. Should the contractor’s management be aware of the subcontractor’s employment of illegal workers, the contractor shall be held fully liable.
The European Parliament also supports the idea of motivating illegal immigrants to cooperate in the prosecution of their employers by issuing time-restricted work visas as incentives.
The Directive is only waiting to be formally adopted by the Council.