Georgia's Employment Laws
All 50 states in the U.S. -- including Georgia -- have their own laws regarding employment. Georgia is beholding to federal laws regarding employment.
When managing the human relations department (HR) in a company in Georgia it is very important to stay abreast of recent laws relating to labor. The "Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act" requires subcontractors and contractors working with Georgia's public employees to verify the eligibility of all new hires. New tough Georgia laws regarding illegal immigration relate to employment, so HR needs to be very up-to-date on those laws. In fact federal immigration laws require employers (HR personnel) to "…complete an INS Form 1-9 to verify each employee's authorization" to be working in America (Kemp, 2008). A Plan: The HR department should establish regular tutorials for all employees to bring everyone up-to-date on legal requirements for both Georgia and federal guidelines and laws.
THREE: If the HR department in any public or private workplace is not actively working to educate supervisors, managers, executives and others as to the current laws (federal and state) then the HR leadership is not doing its job. Politically and legally, HR professionals have an obligation...
That is, avoiding fines and embarrassing public relations from negative news reports -- while other companies are being punished for failure to comply -- gives the company that follows the law an advantage.
FIVE: What might happen if the HR department fails to follow state and federal employment laws? They will be fined and can expect to receive negative publicity. If the HR department "knowingly" hires or recruits "for a fee, an alien who is unauthorized to be employed in the U.S.," the employer will be "sanctioned" under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (Goodson, et al., 2008).
SIX: Georgia, Alabama and Arizona among other states have recently enacted tough laws in an attempt to stop undocumented immigrants from entering the U.S. And finding work illegally. In the peer-reviewed Journal of Social Work Education (JSWE) the authors note that some of these laws, including Georgia's recent law, HB 87, the "Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011." This law is an attempt to prevent illegal immigrants from working in…
