20/02/2009 - Employer sacks 'illegal' worker
Employment laws have forced a company to sack a cleaner who has lived in Britain for more than 50 years as an illegal foreign worker, it has been claimed.
Robert McClellan, who has an English mother, cannot earn a wage or claim any benefit support - in spite of having always worked, paid taxes - until he pays the Home Office a fee and waits several months for a citizenship application.
Mr McClellan, 59, was born in America after his mother Beryl moved there with her husband Ray, an American GI. In 1955 the couple, who had married in England, allowed six-year-old Robert to return to Exeter, Devon where he was raised by his grandparents and has lived ever since.
Mr McClellan said that because he has no passport, driving licence or citizenship documents his company feared it would face a fine of up to £10,000 under strict employment laws so it cancelled his contract.
Immigration solicitor Judith Hockin said: "Employers have become much more meticulous in complying with the law.
"They now have to do checks on British nationals as well as foreign immigrants to show there is no discrimination."
She added: "Mr McClellan hasn't got anything to show he can work in the UK, so it's a very difficult situation for him."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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