£45k Civil Penalties for Illegal Working - Help!!!

[eteb3]

the director certainly knew it had not been done as there was no-one else to do it.

Correct, so the civil penalty is a shoo-in.

But the offence has different ingredients. On my read, for the Ltd to be guilty, someone in the company must have reasonable cause to believe the employment is actually illegal - neglecting to check is not enough. For the director to be guilty, the director must consent to the company acting on that basis.

One could make a good case for the prosecution that the HR person had reasonable cause because they’d seen the visa and its expiry date. But one could make a case for the defence that the director had forgotten this fact and did not consent to the employment on the basis that the Ltd had reasonable cause to believe the employment was illegal. He consented on some other basis.

 

[Newchodge]

Correct, so the civil penalty is a shoo-in.

But the offence has different ingredients. On my read, for the Ltd to be guilty, someone in the company must have reasonable cause to believe the employment is actually illegal. For the director to be guilty, the director must consent to the company acting on that basis.

One could make a good case for the prosecution that the HR person had reasonable cause because they’d seen the visa and its expiry date. But one could make a case for the defence that the director had forgotten this fact and did not consent to the employment on the basis that the Ltd had reasonable cause to believe the employment was illegal. He consented on some other basis.

The civil penalty is a shoe-in and, I believe, the Director will be personally liable for it, but as has been suggested several times, they need to talk to a lawyer, preferably a criminal specialist..