March 18, 2008, Introduced by Senator SCHAUER and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Tourism.
A bill to prohibit knowing employment of individuals not
authorized to work in the United States; to prescribe methods to
determine employment authorization; and to provide for civil fines
and reimbursement of costs of enforcement.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
"authorized employment enforcement act".
Sec. 2. As used in this act:
(a) "Compensation" means all earnings, including wages and
employer-paid health care benefits and other benefits, whether
determined on the basis of time, task, piece, commission, or other
method of calculation provided by the employer for labor, services,
or work performed.
(b) "Comparable work" means work of comparable value in terms
of composite skill, responsibility, effort, education or training,
and working conditions.
(c) "Department" means the department of labor and economic
growth.
(d) "Employ" means to permit an individual to perform labor or
services for compensation.
(e) "Employer" means an individual, partnership, for-profit or
nonprofit corporation, association, or other legal entity that
employs 1 or more individuals.
(f) "Municipality" means a city, village, township, or county.
Sec. 3. (1) An employer shall not recruit, hire, employ, or
refer an individual for employment to be performed in this state if
the employer has actual or constructive knowledge that the
individual is not legally authorized to work in the United States.
(2) An employer does not violate subsection (1) as to an
individual if the employer has done any of the following in a good
faith effort to comply with this act:
(a) Requested from the individual, received, and documented in
the employment record, before the individual begins work,
information that verifies that the individual is a United States
citizen or is otherwise authorized by the United States government
to work in the United States.
(b) Verified the legal immigrant status of the individual,
before the individual begins to work, using an electronic work
authorization verification service provided by the United States
department of homeland security.
Sec. 4. An employer who violates section 3 is responsible for
all of the following:
(a) A civil fine that is the greater of the following:
(i) $5,000.00.
(ii) The difference between the total compensation paid by the
employer to the employee who was not authorized to work in the
United States and the amount of compensation that a United States
citizen or otherwise legally authorized worker performing the same
quantity of comparable work would have received, based on median
wage rates and benefit packages in the county where the work was
performed.
(b) The costs of the investigation of the employer incurred by
a law enforcement agency in the municipality where the work was
performed. The costs assessed under this subdivision shall be paid
to the law enforcement agency that conducted the investigation.
Sec. 5. The civil fine described in section 4 is payable to
the general fund of the municipality in which the violation
occurred.
Enacting section 1. This act takes effect 90 days after the
date it is enacted into law.