Business Licenses and Permits:: Published by Corporation Service Company » Blog Archive

A bill proposed by the Republican Party in Utah seeks to revoke a business license if an employer is hiring illegally.

Chris Herrod said that employers should be penalized for hiring an illegal worker and that the state’s E-Verify should be expanded.

Currently, Utah businesses with more than 15 employees must register with the system, which tracks the legal status of workers. If an employer does not register they are not penalized, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

However, under the proposals, the program would be expanded to businesses employing more than five people and would begin penalizing non-compliant employers.

Representative Herrod said that offending employers would have three days to terminate the illegal worker’s contract and sign an affidavit not to repeat the practice. If a second offense occurs, they would lose their business license and be forced to cease operating.

Herrod told the news provider, “If companies want to play around with it and take a chance and get caught once and then risk it again a second time and lose their business license, I think that’s a pretty serious consequence.”