Sorting out the fact from fiction in electronic employment verification systems

The House Judiciary Committee oversaw a hearing on electronic employment verification systems and the safeguards needed to protect privacy and prevent misuse within them. Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) presided over the hearing, while Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) served as the primary witnesses. Both Lofgren and Conyers wanted a thorough explanation of the E-Verify system and the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), sorting out the fact from the fiction.

Conyers said that the main purpose of the hearing was to figure out a way to improve the E-Verify system. E-Verify was created as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 in order to verify the employment eligibility of both U.S. citizens and noncitizens at no charge to the employer. Calvert and Shuler highlighted the benefits of using E-Verify. Calvert said that all employers are required to check all potential new employees, inversely protecting everyone from discrimination. Shuler explained the high performance rate, saying that out of 1,000 employees 942 would be cleared automatically, 53 would be correctly mismatched, and the remaining five would successfully fight their mismatch. This gave the system an error rate of only half a percent.

Johnson and Giffords argued the flaws of E-Verify and explained the benefits of NEVA. Johnson said that in order to create an effective, secure, and reliable system, the system must prohibit unlawful employment, protect workers, partner with employers, reduce the risk of identity theft, and protect Social Security. Giffords agreed with him and said that NEVA fulfills each of these guidelines making it the best alternative to the E-Verify system. She stressed that if Congress does nothing to improve the system, “we will have failed.”

Committee compares employee verification systems

Today the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to discuss various employee verification systems that determine worker eligibility for jobs throughout the United States.

The various measures included Rep. Heath Shuler’s (D-NC) Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act, which would expand the use of E-Verify, a searchable online database of citizen identities and official documentation numbers. Another proposal was Rep. Sam Johnson’s (R-TX) New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), which cosponsor Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-AZ) said was the more “realistic” approach that rejects the use of E-Verify. Gifford said that since E-Verify was mandated in Arizona in 2007, it has been found “complicated, unreliable, and burdensome” and “mandating E-Verify nationwide for all employees would be disastrous.” She also pointed out that not all employers have the Internet access that E-Verify requires to screen applicants.

Shuler said that E-Verify has resulted in a match for 93 percent of new employees, and of the 7 percent who were not matched, less than one percent “bothered to contest the results.” He called the system “easy to use” and said it is “currently being updated and expanded” to meet increased demand.