"This is not something the company planned to do, it's not something the company initiated and it's not something that benefited the company," said Alexander Auerbach, a spokesman for Overhill, which dismissed about a quarter of its 1,000-plus workforce. "Quite the contrary. We lost very good, very loyal employees."
Overhill, whose workforce is largely Latino, says it has no idea of the legal status of the fired employees. No one has formally accused them of being illegal immigrants. Still, the company argues that it risked potential criminal liability under tax and immigration laws if it continued to employ them after the IRS audit.
"Based on the advice of three different law firms, the company's belief was that it was legally compelled to terminate these employees," Auerbach said. Overhill has already rehired workers for most positions.
But the union says Overhill responded rashly. "I think the company acted hastily and unnecessarily," said Peter Schey, a Los Angeles lawyer who represented the union. "Legally, there was nothing that compelled these terminations."
Immigrant advocates who applaud the Obama administration's determination to shift the work-site enforcement focus to employers acknowledge that such an approach still leaves workers vulnerable to losing their jobs.
"At the end of the day, it's the employees or the undocumented workers who are still walking around with a bull's-eye on their backs," said Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank.
"They either get directly caught up in a raid, or they get caught in a ricochet attack by an employer acting preemptively to let them go."
IRS officials declined to comment on the case, citing privacy concerns. Although the federal agency regularly alerts employers about workers with incorrect Social Security or tax identification numbers, it does not mandate that those employees be fired.
"We do not advise employers to fire or hire anybody," said Larry Wright, an IRS spokesman.
All of Overhill's dismissed factory hands were hired before the introduction of the Department of Homeland Security's so-called E-Verify system, which allows employers to confirm the legal working status of new hires electronically, verifying Social Security numbers and other data. The program was designed as a weapon against the vast trade in fraudulent and stolen Social Security numbers. Overhill is now using the system for new hires.
