Posted on 09/01/2008 9:47:03 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
Despite concerns from business groups and immigrant advocates about a government Web-based employment verification program, a growing number of local companies are using it.
Since the voluntary program E-Verify was offered to employers in 2004, almost 4,000 Georgia companies and more than 800 businesses in Tennessee have signed up to participate in the federal program, including 50 employers in Chattanooga and 96 in Dalton, Ga.
The E-Verify program is a voluntary, Internet-based program established to allow employers to verify workers’ employment eligibility electronically with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
“We have been using E-Verify without any real problems for three years,” said Kary Klein, owner of the temporary hiring firm SmartHire in Chattanooga. “I could see the trend coming, and I think eventually most employers are going to have to use it. We want to be a leader in our industry, so we began using E-Verify very early.”
Jessica Jones, an employee at SmartHire, said the computer check of new hires is quick and easy.
But a proposal from the Bush administration in June to require all companies doing business with the federal government to use E-Verify has drawn fire from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce and the Immigration Police Center, among others.
Cost concerns
Critics contend E-Verify could prove costly, especially when workers are hired and then later have to be dismissed if the worker’s status isn’t verified.
Randel Johnson, a vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said requiring all federal contractors to participate in E-Verify “raises many unnecessary practical problems which will make ever more complex an already overly complicated federal procurement system.”
D.A. King, president of the anti-immigration group known as the Dustin Inman Society in Marietta, Ga., dismisses such criticism.
“This program not only ought to be renewed by the Congress, but it ought to be mandated for all employers,” he said. “Every employer should be happy to comply with the law and be sure that they have hired lawful workers.”
Mr. King said E-Verify is essential for compliance of public employers and state contractors under laws in Georgia and some other states.
Growing use
Arizona and Mississippi have laws requiring all employers in the state to use E-Verify, and Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Utah require some employers to use the program.
The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which went into effect last year, requires employers that have state contracts to use E-Verify. The law now requires E-Verify usage only for state contractors with 100 or more employees, but after July 1, 2009, it will include all state contractors.
Critics argue E-Verify is a flawed system that has high error rates and could have great consequences for legal workers and U.S. citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration databases have errors, said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst with the Immigration Policy Center, a research institution dedicated to studying the contributions immigrants have made to America.
“Sometimes if (the employer) doesn’t get a confirmation back, they don’t tell the person,” Dr. Waslin said. “In some cases they just fire the person without giving them the chance to fix that problem. There is certainly a possibility of discrimination and misusing the system.”
In a December 2006 report, the inspector general of the Social Security Administration estimated that 17.8 million, or 4.1 percent, of the agency’s 435 million individual records contained discrepancies that could result in a no-match letter being sent to a legally authorized worker. Of those records with errors, 12.7 million belonged to native-born Americans, records show.
If these error rates were not fixed before a mandatory Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification System was implemented, they could result in a minimum of 11,000 workers per day being flagged as ineligible for employment, according to the Cato Institute, a nonprofit public policy research foundation in Washington, D.C.
Officials with local personnel agencies using the system for new hires say they are not experiencing such problems.
“It’s been very easy for us to work with and quite user friendly,” said David Crisp, vice president for Olsten Staffing Services in Chattanooga. “Once the word gets out that you are using the system, very few people come to you who might have a problem with their immigration status.”
Staff writer Dave Flessner contributed to this story.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
* Within three days of hiring an employee, the participating employer is required to enter information such as the employee’s name, date of birth, Social Security number and citizenship status into E-Verify. Within seconds, the employer receives a response.
* If there’s a tentative nonconfirmation or “mismatch,” the employer must notify the employee and give him or her the opportunity to contest that finding.
* If the employee chooses to contest the “mismatch,” he or she has eight business days to visit a Social Security Administration office with the required documents to prove identity.
* Until the “mismatch” is resolved, the employee must be allowed to keep working and cannot be fired or have any other employment-related action taken against him or her.
Source: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
ping
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Tennessee PING
HUH?!? This negates everything proceeding it. Basically says check out to see if there is a mismatch to find out if your employee is a criminal/illegal citizen using false info. If there is a mismatch it does not matter they can keep working. Ho Hum. What a waste of money. If there were repercussion and or consequences this would be worth the money.
“It’s been very easy for us to work with and quite user friendly,” said David Crisp, . . . “Once the word gets out that you are using the system, very few people come to you who might have a problem with their immigration status.”
Aye, there's the rub - and a perfect rejoinder to those who say innocents might be fired. Those that preach this have the same political DNA as those who said "You can't ship them all back" (i,e, just surrender).
I looked up the Dustin Inman Society's website. They are against ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION!! They are not anti-immigration. Why can't these reporters get it right?
btw, for those like me who were not familiar with the Dustin Inman Society, here is the link to the story behind the group. It will make you mad!
http://www.thedustininmansociety.org/info/who_was_dustin_inman.html
After buying forged documents to fit the fake identity?
* Until the “mismatch” is resolved, the employee must be allowed to keep working and cannot be fired or have any other employment-related action taken against him or her.
Like saying the serial killer can keep on killing---- that's gotta be changed.
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The illegal illiterates undermine US culture--they are unable to rise above the level of a Banana Republic from whence they came. It's time to deport these Mexican govt agents draining our assets---colluding with their govt in massive transfers of US wealth to Mexico.
ANOTHER OUTRAGE: A whining Mexican gaming the system ---faking that she dropped an anchor kid here---conniving to get the kid a free education. The invader can't come up with proof the kid was born here (a ridiculously simple task IF the kid was really born here.)
The invader admits to being here ILLEGALLY and is looting taxpayers--- collecting, welfare, housing subsidies, EITC refunds, and MORE.
The invader is probably using forged documents, stolen ID's and SS nos, and multiple identities with which to ride the US gravy train. Much of that thievery goes back to bargain basement Mexico where the invader will retire on the largesse of US taxpayers.
ping
I was behind a group of about 6 males in WalMart yesterday - I believe that they were all illegals. They each bought their own goods, primarily consisting of work gloves and American cheese. They acted awkwardly, and only one spoke for the group.
One of them left the pack and walked back into the store. I kept an eye on him as he was acting suspiciously like a shoplifter. He disappeared down one aisle, then about 2 minutes later, approached behind me from the other side of the store. I instinctively hooked my wallet with my thumb and turned with my back to the rack of candy. I think he was looking for a pocket to pick as he moved behind me quickly and quietly, then took off quickly when I turned towards him.
It is a simple solution to the problems of illegal workers...No jobs No benefits... they will leave or starve.
Use it when you hire a guy but tell him his job will be picking up litter at minimum wage until his name passes E-Verify. In most cases that’s a few minutes, for the others maybe 8 days.
There’s always websites such as this to get an idea if you’re being lied to.
http://www.ancestorhunt.com/social_security_death_index.htm
You dumbkopfs kannot do it on your own! You vill use the E-verify! Ve vill determine who verks in this country!
Keep up the raids, and most of these illegals will self-deport, anyhow. JMO. And E-verify can make it easy to stop people from working, in the future, for reasons other than immigration status.
Maybe someone needs to let her know. I think I'll mail her some information.
You try to tell people and get accused of racism. Until it happens to them. Most Americans seem to see reality as some sort of logical and predictably linear story line that, should they adhere to it, everything will turn out swell!
Some entity is going to screw them royally if they’re going to be so indiscriminate. There really is a movement in most of our government agencies to use “political incorrectness” against us when it’s convenient ... making an accident into a HATE CRIME for the furtherance of a person’s career. Your government last looked out for your interests sometime in the early 1960’s.
You try to tell people and get accused of racism. Until it happens to them. Most Americans seem to see reality as some sort of logical and predictably linear story line that, should they adhere to it, everything will turn out swell!
Some entity is going to screw them royally if they’re going to be so indiscriminate. There really is a movement in most of our government agencies to use “political incorrectness” against us when it’s convenient ... making an accident into a HATE CRIME for the furtherance of a person’s career. Your government last looked out for your interests sometime in the early 1960’s.
Someone with power must be cluing in (using) the radicals lest they be found out...
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