Human Resource Experts Urge Defeat of Kansas “E-Verify” Bill

HR Initiative Calls for Federal Action on Employment Verification
Monday, February 11, 2008

Washington, D.C. – The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce today urged Kansas state legislators to resist an attempt to mandate the use of E-Verify by state employers, as contained in the omnibus immigration bill, S.B. 458, currently under consideration in the Kansas State Senate.  E-Verify is the voluntary federal employment verification system that has been recently mandated by legislative action in Arizona.

The HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce, representing the nation’s leading human resource organizations – including hundreds of thousands of HR professionals and thousands of U.S. employers from every sector of the economy – outlined its opposition to mandated use of E-Verify for the following reasons:

  • E-Verify, also known as “Basic Pilot,” was established by Congress as a voluntary pilot program and is ill-equipped to handle a massive influx of users.  Moreover, funding for the program is due to expire at the end of 2008.
  • E-Verify utilizes the Social Security database, which has a 4.1 percent error rate.  If all U.S. employers were to use the system, as many as six million U.S. citizens and legal residents could be denied employment due to bureaucratic error.  The error rate for legal foreign-born workers is estimated to be as high as 10 percent – opening the door to increased discrimination based on national origin.
  • E-Verify is unable to detect document fraud and identity theft, leaving employers vulnerable to sanctions through no fault of their own.
  • The proposed Kansas law, when added to numerous other state and local ordinances aimed at deterring illegal immigration, is fast creating a confusing and ineffective patchwork of federal and state laws.

The HR Initiative letter urged legislators to “advocate to your state’s Congressional delegation the need for a state-of-the-art federal electronic employment verification system that can curtail identity theft and help ensure that only authorized workers are added to U.S. payrolls.”

The HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce includes:

•    American Council on International Personnel
•    College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
•    Food Marketing Institute
•    HR Policy Association
•    International Public Management Association for Human Resources
•    National Association of Manufacturers
•    Society for Human Resource Management

For more information, please 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 are seeking to improve the current process of employment verification by creating a secure, efficient and reliable system that will ensure a legal workforce and help prevent unauthorized employment, a root cause of illegal immigration.