Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

1/1/02  News Report -- The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

Grocery stores and other businesses that employ large numbers of immigrant workers are stepping up efforts to identify -- and fire -- employees who don't have proper work documentation.

In the past few weeks, dozens of workers at Harris Teeter supermarkets in the Triangle lost their jobs when they couldn't provide accurate Social Security numbers. And this summer, Kroger says about 30 workers in the Triangle who couldn't verify Social Security numbers quit or were fired.

Many employers in the Triangle, such as grocery stores, hotels, restaurants and construction businesses, are dependent on immigrant workers to fill positions in what has been a tight labor market. But some companies say that since the Sept.11 terrorist attacks they have become more sensitive about employing workers without permission to be in the United States.

"We haven't changed our procedures, but after the attacks we did remind store managers to continue following procedures for checking Social Security information," said Archie Fralin, public-relations manager for Kroger's Mid-Atlantic region.

Harris Teeter spokeswoman Jessica Graham said employees left or were fired after the company received an annual report from the Social Security Administration listing the names of employees whose Social Security number did not match up to the name in SSA records. Workers who couldn't provide a matching Social Security number were fired.

Graham would not say how many employees were let go because of false or incorrect documentation.

"It's a regular report [from the SSA] and there's nothing unusual about it," Graham said. "There is no change to our policy on hiring."

Lowes Foods, based in Winston-Salem, said it had store managers check employee rolls in October after the company received a letter from the SSA that detailed the payroll tax requirements for workers. Although Lowes says it didn't find any workers with false social security numbers, the SSA's letter put the company on alert.

"The letter was not something we receive on a regular basis," said Lowes Foods spokeswoman Dianne Bloncato.

For its part, the SSA says it hasn't increased pressure on companies to audit employee records since Sept. 11. Out of 6.5 million businesses reporting to the SSA, the agency sends out about 110,000 notices a year that list workers without matching Social Security numbers.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service also says it hasn't been targeting businesses in the Triangle more since Sept. 11.

Dr. Nolo Martinez, the director of Hispanic and Latino affairs for Gov. Mike Easley, said employers in several industries across the state have long been aware that many of their employees were working illegally and any new measures to enforce immigration paperwork could quickly fade.

"It would be healthy for employers to lobby for a loyal and productive worker, but they use the law as revolving door [by hiring other illegal immigrants when employees are identified as having false papers]," he said. "For the very longest time we have seen this problem. You would think they would be smart enough to weed out that situation. But of course they have not because they're never been penalized."

Efforts are under way to tighten loopholes for fake documentation in the state. Today a new law takes effect that requires a Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number in order to obtain an N.C. driver's license. North Carolina has been regarded as one of the most lenient states when it comes to required documentation for a driver's license.

Increased vigilance from companies and the government might make it harder for illegal immigrants to find work, but some in the Latino community say the state needs a better solution than pushing workers into the underground economy.

"It's going to be harder for workers," said Javier Castillo, a Greenville businessman and a member of the Governor's Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. "But the state needs the labor; you have to regulate it one way or the other."