Small firms wary of HB 1804
BY CLIFTON ADCOCK World Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
11/21/07 at 1:30 PM
Watch a slide show and read all the stories in a series on the immigration of thousands of people from Casa Blanca to Tulsa.
Read all of the Tulsa World’s coverage of House Bill 1804.
Subcontractors and other business owners discuss
the impact of the state's new immigration law.
Business owners from the Tulsa
area sat down together Tuesday to
learn how Oklahoma's new immigration law will affect them.
About 50 business owners, mostly construction subcontractors, attended the American Subcontrac-
tors Association of Oklahoma meet
ing in Tulsa to get advice from Kevin Doyle, a local labor employment
attorney.
Doyle told the group that the
state's immigration law, new federal
employment eligibility forms and
new procedures that must be followed when the Social Security Administration notes a problem with a
worker's Social Security number
are all factors that will affect businesses in the near future.
Most parts of House Bill 1804 --
Oklahoma's new immigration law
-- that affect private employers will
not go into effect until next July,
Doyle said.
However, sections that make it a
felony to knowingly transport or
harbor an illegal immigrant already
are in effect.
"That sounds bad," he said. "It is,
but under federal statutes, that's always been the law."
The law was written in such a way
that court challenges against it
would be difficult, Doyle said.
"This statute is one of the most
comprehensive on immigration
passed by a state or local government," he said.
"If nothing else, it's a light into
the shadows, and that's making a lot
of people nervous."
Francie Dix, executive director of
the American Subcontractors Association of Oklahoma, said the organization sponsored Doyle's
speech to help its members
know where they stand legally when hiring workers.
"These are professionals
here," Dix said. "They want
to follow the law. They're not
trying to get around anything.
"Our goal is to make sure
our members have the information, because there is so
much hearsay (about the new
law) out there," she said
Tuesday.
Mike Jones, owner of ML
Jones Acoustics Inc., said after the meeting that his business has not yet been affected by the new law but that
many business owners, including himself, are mostly
concerned about one section
of it.
That section states that an
American citizen who is fired
from a company can file a discrimination lawsuit if the
company retains an illegal immigrant "who the employing
entity knows, or reasonably
should have known, is an unauthorized alien hired after
Balance = 20.0 pts
July 1, 2008, and who is working in Oklahoma in a job category that requires equal skill,
effort, and responsibility" as
the fired employee.
"That is the most destructive part of House Bill 1804"
for employers, Jones said.
"We most certainly see it as a
problem."
Jones also said he thinks
businesses are being made to
do the federal government's
job of verifying immigration
status.
"I'm in the construction
business, not the immigration-enforcement business,"
he said.
"It's my responsibility to
build the projects we build
and the government's responsibility to check documentation."
Clifton Adcock 581-8367
clifton.adcock@tulsaworld.com
