HR Initiative Critical of New DHS E-Verify Mandate

Washington, D.C. – The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce, a coalition representing human resource professionals and thousands of small and large U.S. employers representing every sector of the American economy, criticized the new rule issued today by the Department of Homeland Security that will require virtually all federal contractors and subcontractors to participate in E-Verify, the government’s controversial pilot employment verification system.

While the HR Initiative (HRI) continues to review and analyze all aspects of the new rule, it is clear that based on employer feedback, DHS has made some revisions to the rule it originally proposed in August.  However, HRI continues to contend that the rule contravenes Congressional intent.  Congress has specifically rejected attempts to require federal contractors to participate in E-Verify at least four times. These rejections – three times in the U.S. House of Representatives and once in the U.S. Senate – made it clear that Congress did not intend to mandate the use of E-Verify for federal contractors.

The HR Initiative pointed out that:

• E-Verify was created as a voluntary pilot program –  yet DHS is now making it mandatory for virtually all Federal contractors and subcontrators.
• E-Verify was designed for verifying work eligibility for new hires – yet the new DHS  rule will require Federal contractors to “re-verify” either all employees working on the contract – or all employees.

“The mandatory nature of this regulation and the requirement to re-verify existing employees directly contravenes Congressional intent,” said Mike Aitken, Director of Government Affairs, Society for Human Resource Management. “DHS has also consistently underestimated the costs and burden to employers of the E-Verify mandate.  The new rule has ignored the evidence and placed the government’s responsibility on the shoulders of U.S. employers.”

Visit www.legal-workforce.org http://www.legalworkforce.org to learn more about effective employment verification and the HR Initiative.

The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce (www.legal-workforce.org http://www.legalworkforce.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.