Migrant worker legislation
You will need to be aware of both the legal and social implications of employing and managing migrant workers.
Failure to do so could expose you to significant criminal and civil penalties under health and safety legislation, discrimination law and under the immigration rules.
For example, you have an obligation under the relevant health and safety legislation to provide all of your workers with information, training and supervision in an understandable format irrespective of their literacy, mother tongue or national origins.
You also have responsibilities, as a UK employer, to prevent illegal working. It is illegal to employ a person aged 16 or over who is subject to immigration control unless you can confirm their right to work.
New legislation on employing foreign workers comes into force
Parts of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 came into force at the end of February 2008, requiring employers to make stringent checks on foreign workers.
The measures impose tough fines on employers caught breaking the law as well as introducing a points-style system, which takes into account the skills of migrants who want to work or study in the UK.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has said that the new fines are draconian and unfair if imposed on employers who have no idea that their employees are working illegally. The Home Office has produced guides to help employers understand the new legislation.
Read more on this story from the Home Office website 
Read the reaction from the FSB
Read the Home Office guidance
Sources of further information
'Working in the UK: rights for migrant workers' - the TUC produces this leaflet, which can be downloaded from their website in pdf format. The leaflet is available in Czech, English, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, French or Spanish.
The Home Office website provides further guidance to UK employers on employing migrant workers and gives details of work permit arrangements, useful links and support available to employers.
Migrantworker.co.uk - further advice and information for employers and migrant workers.
HR4UK.com - this HR and employment support service provides advice on preventing illegal working. Their website provides a checklist of the documents you need to obtain from your migrant workers to ensure they can legally work in the UK.
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