Ethicality of Hiring Illegal Workers

Let's say you go out to eat for a friend's birthday, a date with a special someone, or maybe to take a break from the daily grind of cooking. You order your favorite dish, exactly what you wanted. Did you know that there's a 20 percent chance the meal in front of you was prepared by somebody who is illegally here in the U.S.? According to a 2008 study of the Pew Hispanic Center, over 20 percent of restaurant chefs and head chefs are illegal immigrants, and nearly 30 percent of dishwashers are illegal. These statistics continue to increase as more immigrants come into the U.S. illegally and are hired by restauranteurs and other employers willing to take advantage of work at cheap costs.

Employers who hire illegal immigrants create a controversial debate. Is it ethical for employers to be hiring people who are not legal citizens of this country in order to take advantage of the low prices they are willing to work for? Many people argue no, it is not ethical because there are plenty of unemployed Americans who need work and are not offering to do so below minimum wage (and therefore cannot compete with illegal workers in this area of the job market). Employers who do not thoroughly check the legitimacy of a potential employee's citizenship or choose to turn their heads and remain ignorant fuel the debate. Hiring legal workers is required by law, and abiding by the law is ethical, and you cannot argue that.

People on the other side of the spectrum argue that illegal immigrants are willing to do the dirty jobs unemployed Americans are not willing to do, so they are not stealing any jobs from Americans. Others argue that employers are giving them opportunity- what they came here for. Yes, you are giving them opportunity (a paycheck), but you are still exploiting them for their willingness to work at such low wages. Additionally, as insensitive as it may sound, illegal immigrants provide companies with lower operation costs due to lower wage expenses, and most companies will take the lowest cost structure possible.

Chris MacDonald, Ph.D. an ethics professor at Saint Mary's University in Canada, discusses the negative ramifications that could possibly result from firing (or not hiring) illegal immigrants in restaurants. Firing or not hiring illegal immigrants would increase overall costs for the restaurant, driving up the price of a given meal. As a chain reaction, this negatively affects the customer. Chris MacDonald talks more about the role of illegal immigrants in the restaurant industry specifically in his blog (link posted below).

Ethics of Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Abiding by the law and not exploiting workers versus cheaper operations costs and opportunities for those in need. Because these issues are so controversial and often contradictory, these issues will continue to lay at the foundation of the debacle about employers' practices in hiring or not hiring illegal immigrants.

Ethically yours,

Heather