Hiring Illegal Aliens

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Hiring Illegal Aliens

Reference Number: MTAS-2059
Reviewed Date: 05/29/2026

Prohibition on employing unauthorized workers
Tennessee law prohibits any person or entity, including municipalities, from knowingly employing an unauthorized worker. An “unauthorized alien” (often termed “illegal alien” in older statutes) is an individual who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States and is not otherwise authorized to work under federal immigration laws (the Immigration and Nationality Act and related regulations).

Verification, I-9, and E-Verify
Employers must verify the identity and work authorization of each new hire as required by the federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). For Tennessee employers, including cities, there are two core verification mechanisms:

  • Completing and retaining the federal Form I-9 in good faith, relying on documents that reasonably appear genuine and relate to the employee; and
  • Using a federal work authorization verification system, such as E-Verify, to confirm that a new hire is authorized to work in the United States.

Under Tennessee’s Lawful Employment Act (TLEA), an employer that properly complies with IRCA verification requirements and/or uses E-Verify in good faith has a defense if the verification information later turns out to be false. In other words, a city that completes I-9s correctly and/or uses E-Verify as required will not be held to have “knowingly” employed an unauthorized worker solely because a document or federal database response was inaccurate.

Current TLEA requirements for municipal employers
The Tennessee Lawful Employment Act (TLEA), T.C.A. Title 50, Chapter 1, Part 7, requires all employers in Tennessee to demonstrate that they are hiring and maintaining a legal workforce. For public employers, this has practical consequences:

  • State and local government employers, including municipalities, are required to comply with TLEA and employment verification rules for all new hires.
  • For many Tennessee employers, E-Verify use is now mandatory rather than optional. Private employers at or above a specified full time equivalent threshold must use E-Verify for all new hires, and recent legislative changes and policy guidance reflect a clear expectation that state and local government entities use E-Verify as their primary verification method for new employees.
  • Municipal employers should ensure their hiring procedures and written policies expressly require use of E-Verify for all new hires where state law mandates it, and that they retain E-Verify case results in the employee’s record as evidence of work authorization.

Office of Employment Verification Assistance and small municipalities
Public Chapter 832 (2022) amended T.C.A. § 50-1-703 to create additional support and clarify documentation requirements:

  • For municipal employers with fewer than 35 full time equivalent employees, the Office of Employment Verification Assistance in the Tennessee Department of Human Resources must, at no charge to the municipality, either enroll the employer in E-Verify or conduct E-Verify work authorization checks on the employer’s employees, once the municipality completes the required forms and paperwork.
  • When an employer enrolls in E-Verify prior to hiring an employee, and uses E-Verify to verify work authorization, the employer is required to maintain the E-Verify case results for each employee in lieu of retaining copies of certain government issued documents. The case result must clearly show the employee’s work authorization status.

No civil claims by unauthorized workers in specific circumstances
Public Chapter 832 also amended Title 50, Chapter 1, Part 8 to limit certain employment related civil claims by unauthorized workers:

  • An individual who is not authorized to work in the United States under federal immigration laws does not have a civil cause of action against an employer for wrongful or retaliatory discharge if the employer was not aware that the individual lacked work authorization.
  • Additionally, Title 4, Chapter 21, Part 4 (Tennessee Human Rights Act) was amended to provide that if an employer learns, through valid E-Verify results, that an employee is not authorized to work in the United States and terminates the employee based on those results, the employee does not have a cause of action for discrimination based on national origin under the Tennessee Human Rights Act arising solely from that termination decision.

Reporting obligation for local government officers and employees
Local government officers and employees who have reason to believe they have knowledge of a violation of the state’s prohibition on employing unauthorized workers must file a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Municipal policies should make this duty clear and outline an internal reporting path (e.g., to the city manager or HR director) in addition to the statutory obligation to report to the state.