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Two men employing workers at a fast food chain in the Lancaster area have been jailed for employing workers illegally. Are you sure you are safe?

The pair had largely ignored employment law, by accident or design. The offence, for which they were jailed, was for employing illegal workers.

We find many employers skip over their responsibility to check employees for their right to work in the UK. Too many make the check only when the new recruit appears “foreign”.

There is a clear process for checking that satisfies the Home Office requirements. It should be applied to all employees. To apply it selectively risks claims of discrimination. All employees includes those already working for you.

The further risk of poor checking is that you could be employing a slave. A modern slave is a worker (usually with poor English) who is controlled as a pimp would control a prostitute. The employee’s wages go into a bank account that is controlled by the “pimp”. The individual is then heavily exploited.

The basics of good checking for eligibility are contained as a policy item in our standard employee handbook. This handbook is provided online for our clients.