What is Considered Illegal Labor Work?

By Business & Finance Last updated Saturday, June/01/2024

Federal Laws

The U.S. Department of Labor is the main agency that sets and enforces federal employment labor laws. It protects the overall welfare of the American workers in terms of their wages, work condition and other advancement opportunities. The U.S. Department of Labor also works with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to detect illegal immigrants working in the United States. E-Verify is an Internet-based system that employers can use to verify the eligibility of workers (U.S. citizens, residents and foreign workers) to work in the United States.

In general, workers come from a foreign country without proper work visa are illegal labor. Many visas allow visa holders to stay in a country but they are not allowed to work. For example, international students holding an F-1 visa can work only on campus for a maximum of 20 hours per week during a regular semester. These students, however, become illegal if they work more than 20 hours/week, or if they work off-campus for pay. Visitors traveling in the U.S. are never permitted to work. There are also temporary work visas, such as E-, H-, O-, P-visas, that have both duration and work specification requirements. When these workers work beyond the visa validation date or outside their profession, they are also considered as illegal.

To stop child labor abuse, the U.S. Department of Labor has set detail guidelines. For non-agricultural operations, it restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work. When certain jobs are hazardous, children under 18 are not allowed to be employed. For agricultural operations, children under age 16 during school hours are not allowed to work. This also applies to certain jobs considered to be too dangerous. Penalty for any of the child labor violation are severe. Employers should verify workers' age before hiring.

Human trafficking is an illegal activity of smuggling migrants or using labor by force or fraud. It is considered as modern-day slavery. Often, victims are from very poor countries and they are forced to smuggle drugs or involve in sexual exploitation activities. Sometimes these victims owe money and they have to work to repay their debt. Many global organizations work in combating with human trafficking activities.