Senate Bill No. 71
(By Senator Hunter)
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[Introduced January 14, 2004; referred to the Committee on Labor;
and then to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §21-1B-1, §21-1B-2 and §21-1B-3 of the
code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
reporting of unauthorized workers employed in West Virginia;
and defining "unauthorized workers".
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §21-1B-1, §21-1B-2 and §21-1B-3
of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 1B. REPORTING OF EMPLOYMENT OF UNAUTHORIZED WORKERS.
§21-1B-1. Findings; policy.
The Legislature finds that employers have the responsibility
to check the residence status of their prospective employees and to
verify the legal employment status of all persons who come into
their employ and to report their employment to the appropriate
governmental agencies. Employers are precluded from hiring illegal aliens
unauthorized workers and can be penalized for doing so.
Additionally, employers owe a duty to the
legal residents of the
state to uphold the intent and integrity of the general workforce
due to the potential loss of revenue to the state by loss of taxes,
unemployment premiums and workers' compensation premiums.
§21-1B-2. Definitions.
(a) "Employer" means any individual, person, corporation,
department, board, bureau, agency, commission, division, office,
company, firm, partnership, council or committee of the state
government, public benefit corporation, public authority or
political subdivision of the state, or other business entity which
employs or seeks to employ an individual or individuals;
(b) "Commissioner" means the labor commissioner or his or her
designated agent;
(c) "Alien" means any individual who is not a natural born or
naturalized citizen of the United States "Unauthorized worker"
means a person who does not have the legal right to be employed, or
is employed in violation of law; and
(d) "Records" means those records as that may be required by
the commissioner of labor for the purposes of compliance with the
provisions of this article.
§21-1B-3. Unauthorized workers; employment prohibited.
(a) It is unlawful for any employer to employ, hire, recruit,
or refer, either for him or herself or on behalf of another, for private or public employment within the state, an
alien who is not
duly authorized to work by the immigration laws or the attorney
general of the United States unauthorized worker who is not duly
authorized to be employed by law.
(b) Employers shall be required to verify a prospective
employee's legal status or authorization to work prior to employing
the individual or contracting with the individual for employment
services.
(c) For purposes of this article, proof of legal status or
authorization to work includes, but is not limited to, a valid
social security card, a valid immigration visa, a valid birth
certificate, a valid passport, a valid photo identification card
issued by a government agency, a valid work permit or supervision
authorized by the state division of labor, a valid permits permit
issued by the department of justice or other valid document
providing evidence of legal residence or authorization to work in
the United States: Provided, that for an alien, such unauthorized
worker, the identification must include some form of photo
identification.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make technical
corrections to the reporting of employment of unauthorized workers
to bring current state law into compliance with federal law.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicate new language that would
be added.
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