Whew, E-verify postponed!
January 12, 2009 by Valerie HelmbreckPosted in: Budgets and spending, Communication, Compliance, IT employment, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
U.S. companies who do business with the government got a short reprieve this week when the deadline for using the controversial E-Verify system was pushed back a month.
The new rule demands all companies working on federal contracts electronically check the legal working status of employees through the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system.
It was set to go into effect Jan 15, but has been postponed until Feb. 20 because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing back on its legality.
Needless to say, the folks at the chamber are thrilled and they’re hoping that President-elect Barack Obama will nix the requirement all together.
The rule as it stands now: any company on a federal contract has to use an Internet-based system that checks the names and Social Security numbers of all its workers against Social Security Administration and DHS data.
The system either confirms the information matches or gives the employer a “tentative non-conformation.”
Then it is up to the employee to resolve any problems with Social Security Administration officials. If the mismatch isn’t cleared up and the employee remains with the company, the employer could lose its federal contracts.
Currently, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and applies only to new hires. But the new law changes that and businesses are howling that the extra work and bother is the last thing they need in this lousy economy.
The lawsuit challenges an Executive Order (read: Bush mandate) making E-Verify mandatory for federal contractors with projects exceeding $100,000 and for sub-contractors with projects exceeding $3,000. In short, just about everyone who does business with the feds.
And considering the stimulus package the new president’s proposing, that could mean even more businesses would get hit by the rule. With IT a big part of the new president’s agenda, it could be a big headache for shops looking to add staff for new initiatives or projects.
Is now the right time to load more federal regs on struggling businesses? Your thoughts…
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Tags: Compliance, contracts, e-verify, Federal, hires, social security number
January 12th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
What is Wrong with the Chamber of Commerce in this country. They know that cheap labor no matter where it comes from is the only qualification that their members want. Who cares what counntry they come from or whether they are legal or not. No matter that our country is going to hell in a hand basket as long as business quarterly profits continue to gross more and more. Who is going to buy their products when the American work force is out of work? Wake up America, use the Everify system to start putting Americans back to work and eliminate the illegal workers in this country who are living off American benefits, receiving family assistance, overloading our education institutions with their illegal children, overwhelming our medical institutions and not paying anything— and getting this all for free!! By the way also eliminate any more H and other visas and stop companies from hiring any more foreign workers from the other third world countries to further put other American workers out of work.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am
We have been using e-verify since November, 2007 and really appreciate the convenience and security for our new hires…not even ONE problem. However, to go back and put everyone in there is crazy…we have a lot of long term people who have never even done an I-9 because they were here prior to 11/6/1986. Seems kind of like an “ex-post-facto” law. We are an aerospace subcontractor and subject to this law if it happens.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Max is right ~ we need to hire Americans, and not just go for the “cheap” labor. Companies should be held responsible.
My company has been verifying ss#’s for a year now, and it is wonderful! We need to do things LEGALLY, and e-verify helps us to do just that!
January 13th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
The e-verify program is the best thing to come to this country. As Max said it’s all about cheap labor. The Chamber of Commerce is betraying all the workers of this country. The hiring practices of the companies that do not want e-verify are part of the reason the country and especially California is is the shape it’s in.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It is probably an excellent idea in theory but, in my experience with Federal computer systems they have great piles of erroneous information. This will result in workers whose families were citizens back to the colonial days being refused work because somebody didn’t enter the information properly. Then, there will be no human being that you can get to on the help line provided to help your company or the employee straigten out the snaffu. It will take weeks and months to straighten anything out at great costs to both the company and the employee.
Garbage in- garbage out.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I am sure they can adjust the policy to grandfather employees who have been with a company for several years. It is about time a layer of accountability is placed with these government contracts. I was under the impression that Proof of Citizenship and Social Security is required for employment in any company. Since tax dollars are paying for these contracts, I appreciate the extra step.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Max, corporations are not people. They are entitys. The people that run them can blame ‘the corporation’ for any number of sins, including hiring practices of hiring cheap labor from other countries instead of US labor. (There’s an excellent movie documentary titled “The Corporation”, in case you’re interrested. I think, from your comments, you might enjoy it.) As for e-Verify, I’ll do it because I have to. Yes, it’s a pain. And I’ll deal with the speed bumps when and if. Price I pay for being a masochist… er… HR professional.
January 19th, 2009 at 2:01 am
It’s a complete waste of time and tax payer money! Companies that want to use illegals will pay with a little thing called cash. If its a tech firm, then more than likely they won’t have any illegals working for them anyway. And if they do, i’m sure they are not being underpaid and causing a burden to the oh so precious community they are living in. No, more than likely they have hired someone from India and sponsor then through a work visa. NOT because they are working for less but because there arent enough smart workers here. Probably due to the fact that people are concerned about the wrong things here in USA. You should be in an uproar about the high cost of college thats pushing us out of the workplace instead of blaming others.
The only ones hiring “cheap” labor are farm and services companies. You know the ones that work the fields and clean the buildings and bathrooms. With the minimum wage being as low as it is… they really don’t have to underpay anyone! Face it.. only peoples racist views and stupidity are what has and continues to keep this country down. It may be better than other countries in some ways, but not by much. Those jobs in California are jobs that have NEVER been done by anyone that wasn’t being oppressed. First it was blacks and now its Latinos. They cried for blacks to go back to Africa and now crying for Latinos to go back from where ever they are from. Stop using your racism and use your mind.
peace.
January 19th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Although not ‘required’ of us, my ‘Corporation’ has been using E-Verify (like Jeanette and Melissa) for about a year now and it is a VERY minor ‘burden’ (if any) and I believe an even smaller impact on “national security” (the ‘premise’ for the law). In reality, it is simply weeding out illegal workers, which is why the Chamber of Commerce is against it. If we don’t employ them, maybe they’ll leave and go thru the ‘process’ to get here legally, however ‘burdensome’ it is on THEM! Get over it, this requirement is long over due, and should apply to all employers, not just those with government contracts. It’s heartening to see the majority of posters in support of this. Anna’s comments are noted, put the government in charge of anything, especially information, and they’ll screw it up (at triple the cost), and there’s nobody intelligent enough (and/or available) to get it straightened out. Luci thinks there should be a grandfather clause. We had an employee who worked for us for 10 years (hired post 11/06/86, so we had an I-9) and ran him to find out he was an illegal with stolen (purchased) identity. He is no longer here. Thank you Patrick for recognizing what most of us in California have known for years. Many of Phil G.’s comments are valid. Although I don’t agree with all them, he brings some good points to the table for discussion.
February 25th, 2009 at 12:34 am
The common factor I see in most of these comments is to keep job opportunities for USA citizens and legal people. I do not see anything wrong on this but e-Verify like any other computer systems are not free of failure and to propagate this system in all USA companies is just ridiculous and irresponsible.
Can you imagine a system who just handles a tiny portion of all USA companies dealing with millions of transactions which could demand extreme scalability, strong security, and a nightmare in data consolidation? Well better not because currently this system produced some errors which could no be visible now but under the umbrella of a more bigger audience could increase exponentially.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
Showing some love to this topic “new to this wordpress”. I defiantly agree with it also. If you really think about it than it all makes alot of sense
December 11th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Really great post. I