Employers faulted for high number of unauthorized Nevada workers

Monday, April 3, 2006 | 12:24 p.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Employers are partly to blame for the high percentage of unauthorized workers in Nevada, state and federal officials said.

Nearly 10 percent of Nevada's laborers are such workers - the second highest ranking in the nation, according to a survey by a national research center.

Brian Kunzi, director of the Nevada Attorney General's Office workers' compensation fraud unit, accused the construction industry of hiring many illegal immigrants.

"You literally have places here where employers are just by the truckload every day picking up workers to take them to job sites ... It's a major problem," Kunzi told the Nevada Appeal.

"You know they are undocumented and there is no effort from the employers to get documentation. They (workers) are being paid in cash," he said.

But some employers said they lack the training and time to spot counterfeit Social Security cards or work permits that illegal workers use to get hired.

Determining the authenticity of a Social Security card can take hours on the phone with the Social Security Administration, they said.

"Getting through to Social Security is a joke," said Mark Lopiccolo, owner of Lopiccolo Construction of Carson City.

Lopiccolo accepts three forms of identification from new employees and considers all of them legitimate.

"They're all state of Nevada licenses, and the Social Security cards look like a Social Security card," he said. "It's kind of a scary issue. I don't know for sure if anyone who works for me is illegal. Do I have to be the police?"

Rick DeMar, chief executive officer of the Builders Association of Western Nevada, estimates that half the construction industry's work force is Hispanic.

"Whether they are legal or not, I don't know," he told the Appeal.

Illegal workers provide a consistent source of cheap, dependable labor, and DeMar suggests their absence could drive up salaries and housing costs.

"Whether immigrants are legal or illegal, the important question is: How do we fulfill the needs of the industry?" he asked. "We certainly don't want to advocate breaking the law. However, this is an important question."

The last time immigration laws were overhauled in 1986, Congress ordered employers to require documents from their workers, and said there would be consequences if they didn't.

But a 2005 case involving an illegal worker at a Lake Tahoe resort shows employers often do not verify documents, Kunzi said.

The male employee presented two different Social Security numbers to the business over several months, both belonging to people who had died. The employer apparently did nothing, Kunzi said.

The man admitted that he purchased one of the Social Security numbers in Reno for $1,500. The scam was uncovered because he filed a fraudulent workers' compensation claim.

"This case really illustrates to me where the problem really comes from - the employers," Kunzi said. "We don't see a real effort on the employer's part to get the documents as require , meaning for the I-9s

"The employers want to use the undocumented workers. They know they are undocumented workers and they are obviously saving money by doing that. They are not paying the wages regular documented workers would be earning in this field," Kunzi said.

John Colledge, agent in charge of investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Reno, said it's getting easier for employers to check for counterfeit driver's licenses and work permits.

"There are mechanisms out there for people to research whether a document is authentic," he told the Appeal. "Credit bureaus can tell you if a Social Security number is real."

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Information from: Nevada Appeal, http://www.nevadaappeal.com