Arizona’s Employers Slow to Get With Program
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E-Verify, the federal database for verifying a new hire’s legal status, largely has worked fine for Arizona employers.
That’s in part because only 15 percent of employers in the state have signed up to use it.
Just 22,000 of the 145,000 Arizona employers have registered, said Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Legal Arizona Workers Act that took effect Jan. 1 requires all Arizona employers to use E-Verify.
{snip}
Human resources experts in Tucson had a variety of guesses about why registration has been low:
* Some businesses have a wait-and-see approach or believe the law will go away, said Tom Lickliter, regional manager of Employer Solutions Group.
* Some see no explicit penalty for not signing up.
* Some employers who haven’t hired anyone since the first of the year haven’t had a need to sign up.
{snip}
* Others are simply confused—you have to go through a tutorial, read a manual and take a test to sign up.
{snip}
The vast majority of the time—93 percent, to be exact—the system quickly confirms a new hire’s work eligibility, Sebrechts said.
An employer enters a new hire’s name, Social Security number and birth date into the online system and instantly receives a message on the screen saying the person is eligible to work in the United States.
It’s what happens the rest of the time—that 7 percent—that causes frustration.
In those cases, the employer receives a “tentative nonconfirmation” message, meaning the employee’s information doesn’t match what’s in the database of eligible workers.
Still, nine out of 10 are resolved within one day, Sebrechts said.
{snip}
Lickliter said Mexican surnames often come up incorrectly in the database because in Mexico people typically use both their father’s and mother’s last names. That doesn’t always translate well on legal documents in the United States.
A year ago, 10 percent of naturalized-citizen employees verified were mismatched in the databases before they were later confirmed, according to an independent evaluation authorized by the Homeland Security Department.
{snip}
Policymakers and advocates are watching the way Arizona handles that and other issues as more states consider making E-Verify mandatory. And some legislators want to roll out the program nationwide.
{snip}
Email Becky Pallack at bpallack@azstarnet.com.
(Posted on April 1, 2008)
Comments
”* Some see no explicit penalty for not signing up.”
So make some. Jail or huge fines would cure that defiance.
Posted by Edward at 6:11 PM on April 1
It needs to be mandatory and there need to be large penalties for those not following the law. Remember that old quaint notion of a “land of laws, not men”?
Posted by at 7:31 PM on April 1
The law mandates no sanction for businesses that do NOT enroll in e-verify.
Posted by at 9:51 PM on April 1
So make some. Jail or huge fines would cure that defiance.
Jail in general population. Actual contact with the “undocumented workers” would do far more to stop this sort of problem than any official punishment ever could.
Posted by at 10:24 PM on April 1
This is easy. The fines should be progressive and they should be ploughed back into the program. In effect this program should be profitable as well as effective.
Can anyone tell me if the law is for new employees only or does it include existing workers?
Posted by Hugo at 11:23 PM on April 1
Sounds like someone’s feet need to get held to the fire with fines and jail time.
Let’s face it - most companies wouldn’t comply with ANY law if they knew there was little threat of actual punishment. Why should we expect different behavior now?
Posted by Dark-Star at 5:09 PM on April 2