March 22, 2007

HB 1804, as passed by the House of Representatives, presents a serious threat to every law-abiding employer in Oklahoma, including OBA-member banks. If you have concerns about disgruntled employees looking for a way to get back at your bank for terminating their employment, even if it's totally legal and warranted, this bill is it.

Here are some of the problems with this bill:

1. Any business contracting with a public employer (defined as every department, agency or instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision of the state), will be required to register and participate in the status verification system. This system is a federal, not a state, system and requires access to the Internet.

2. If your bank terminates any U.S. citizen for any reason (even if your employee commits a criminal act) and you have an "unauthorized alien" on your payroll during the time that person was also on your payroll, your bank will have committed "an unfair employment practice" and will be liable for:

a. Actual loss of compensation and benefits sustained by the employee;
b. Liquidated damages in the amount of two percent for each day the U.S. citizen-employee was terminated after the date of discharge;
c. Reasonable interest from the date of discharge until the date of payment of the liability; and,
d. Reasonable attorney fees and costs.

3. These "remedies" for an "unfair employment practice" cannot be avoided simply by participating in a status verification system (as defined in the proposed statute). Trial lawyers will have a field day suing and forcing a settlement with any employer who doesn't want to go to all the trouble and cost of defending itself. The first thing a trial lawyer will do in one of these cases is ask for all of the immigration verification records on all employees to see if the employer has satisfactorily complied with this law.

4. Employers must withhold state income tax at a rate of six percent on everyone that's employed and to whom compensation is paid when the employer does not have possession of a valid social security number from the individual employee. But how do you know whether the social security number the employee gives you is valid? Do employers have to confirm its validity in advance?

Normally your Association doesn't get involved in non-banking issues, but the harshness of this approach by Republican authors Rep. Randy Terrill and Sen. Jim Williamson is such that bankers need to be aware of what's going on.

The bill will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee next Tuesday, and bankers should let their Senators know what a bad idea this particular legislation is in its present form.

Here are the senators on the Judiciary Committee and their contact information:

Co-Chairman Richard Lerblance, Hartshorne
Phone: 405-421-5604
bell@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-521-5648
District Phone: 918-297-2501

Co-Chairman James Williamson, Tulsa
Phone: 405-521-5624
brownb1@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-530-2333
District Phone: 918-488-9899

Tom Adelson, Tulsa
Phone: 405-521-5551
adelson@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-521-5667
District Phone: 918-743-2448

Randy Bass, Lawton
Phone: 405-5210-5567
bass@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-530-2366
District Phone: 580-2480-0337

Brian Crain, Tulsa
Phone: 405-521-5620
crain@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-530-2302

Judy Eason-McIntyre, Tulsa
Phone: 405-521-5598
easonmcintyre@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-521-5697
District Phone: 918-583-9327

Todd Lamb, Edmond
Phone: 405-521-5632
lamb@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-530-2302
District Phone: 405-740-1365

Anthony Sykes, Moore
Phone: 405-521-5569
sikes@oksenate.gov
Fax: 405-530-2362
District Phone: 405-473-5430

Back to top