Fact of the Week: 07/17/08

Thursday, July 17, 2008

It’s Time for Congress to Create an Employment Verification System That Works

 

 Fact Check

 

Any E-Verify Extension Must Include Improvements to the Employment Verification System!

 

U.S. employers need an employment verification system that works!  That’s why any extension of E-Verify must address the following issues:

  • Temporary Extension – Given the significant documented challenges of the system, E-Verify should not be extended for longer than three years to provide Congress time to improve the system.
  • Social Security Administration and Database Funding – Any extension of E-verify must provide funding directly to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to clean-up SSA databases and to address the administrative strain placed on the Social Security system.
  • Identity Fraud Pilot – E-Verify is unable to detect fraud and identity theft because of its reliance on paper-based identity documents.  Any extension should authorize a pilot to explore alternatives to address the problems of the system, particularly identity theft.
  • Federal Preemption – State laws and a federal mandate have led to a confusing patchwork of legal requirements for American employers and employees. Congress must clarify that employment verification is a federal issue and that states should not impose their own requirements.

The good news is that Congress has a far superior alternative to E-Verify.  The New Employee Verification Act, H.R. 5515, relies on state-of-the-art technologies that hold the promise of a truly effective, electronic employment verification program.

NEVA will help ensure a legal workforce by creating an electronic employment verification system that protects workers, and makes employers part of the solution to provide effective worksite enforcement.

 

To learn more, visit www.legal-workforce.org.

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The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce (www.legal-workforce.org) represents human resource professionals in thousands of small and large U.S. employers representing every sector of the American economy.  The HR Initiative and its members support H.R. 5515, the New Employee Verification Act as the best way to improve the current process of employment verification.  NEVA will create a secure, efficient and reliable system that will ensure a legal workforce and help prevent unauthorized employment, a root cause of illegal immigration.