Seaford restaurateur disqualified for employing illegal workers

Mohammed Eleas Hussain, the director of Bengal Palace in Seaford, East Sussex, has been disqualified for seven years for failing to ensure the restaurant did not employ illegal workers.

On 13 December 2013, Home Office immigration enforcement officers discovered the company was employing three workers who were not eligible to work in the UK.

Hussain, who was formerly the director of Hussain Bros trading as Bengal Palace, has given an undertaking (a formal promise) to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy which prevents him from becoming directly or indirectly involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company for seven years from 18 July 2017.

The company went into liquidation on 5 November 2015 owing £821,733 to creditors, including the £15,000 penalty imposed for employing three illegal workers.

The unfit conduct that led to Hussain giving the undertaking was that he failed to ensure that Hussain Bros complied with its obligations as an employer under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Martin Gitner, deputy head of investigations with the Insolvency Service said: "Illegal workers are not protected under employment law, and as well as cheating legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities these employers defraud the tax payer and undercut honest competitors.

"The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, makes employers responsible for preventing illegal workers in the UK. To comply with the law, a company must check and be able to prove documents have been checked prior to recruitment that show a person is entitled to work.

"The public has a right to expect that those who break the law will face the consequences and this should serve as a warning to other directors tempted to take on illegal staff."

Seven-year ban for London restaurateur for employing illegal workers >>

Director disqualified for six years for employing illegal workers >>

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