Spurred by reports that the E-Verify system has glaring holes (see ), lawmakers are looking at bills that would require all workers to produce ID cards that verify eligibility to work in the United States. The cards would have photo IDs and some sort of biometric info, such as a fingerprint.

Some particulars of the bill:

• People currently employed wouldn’t be required to obtain a card unless they switch jobs.
• Requirements would start with designated industries  that rely heavily on illegal immigrants in their work force.
• Enforcement eventually would be phased in for all worker in all industries.

But it would eventually reach tens of millions of Americans, including citizens and immigrants, who are holding jobs legally.

What chance does such a bill have to become law? Congress is hearing a bunch of complaints that could become insurmountable obstacles:

• Cost and inconvenience. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has raised concerns about the costs to employers and potential difficulty checking the biometrics. Card scanners would cost employers between $700 and $800. The bill’s proponents say small employers could be exempt from purchasing scanners and instead send applicants to government offices.
• The “creepy factor.” Getting Americans to latch on to the idea of a scannable ID card is a tough sell. Privacy advocates won’t buy in.
• Amnesty. Some in Congress want to tie approval of a card system to amnesty for illegal workers, who would be required to turn themselves in an obtain an ID card. The word “amnesty” tends to lead to a loss of support for any type of immigration bill.

Loss of privacy is also a primary concern of those who fear the card will develop into a national identification system able to track Americans.

“We’re not only talking about fingerprinting every American, treating ordinary Americans like criminals in order to work. We’re also talking about a card that would quickly spread from work to voting to travel to pretty much every aspect of American life that requires identification,” said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Westat recently performed an evaluation of E-Verify for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and estimated that the program’s “inaccuracy rate for unauthorized workers” is about 54%.

That means one out of every two unauthorized workers is slipping past the system.

The reason? Many unauthorized workers commit identity fraud that E-Verify cannot detect, found Westat.

As a result, the DHS has stated that it’s working to improve the program by adding more databases and a photo-screening tool, and stepping up efforts to detect identity fraud.

However, while there are still problems that need to be worked out, E-Verify’s accuracy has improved.

Westat’s evaluation found that 96% of all workers were screened accurately — correctly identifying 93.1% of people as being allowed to work in the U.S. and 2.9% as unauthorized. Some 3.3% were unauthorized workers mistaken for authorized ones, and 0.7% were individuals who could work in the U.S. but where originally identified as unauthorized.

The E-Verify system is supposed to tell employers if an applicant is authorized to work in the United States. An independent study shows the system has more misses than hits when it comes to fake IDs.

The Department of Homeland Security commissioned Westat to do the study to determine where the holes are in the system.

One big hole: Westat reported that the program often couldn’t confirm whether information workers were presenting was their own. According to researchers,  “Many unauthorized workers obtain employment by committing identity fraud that cannot be detected by E-Verify.”

The researchers put the inaccuracy rate at 54%. That doesn’t mean that 54% of all workers who get the “approved” stamp by E-Verify have committed fraud. Rather, it means the system didn’t correctly assess the ID info of illegal workers 54% of the time.

DHS has responded by saying it plans to improve the system by expanding the data bases, introducing a photo screening and funding a special unit to investigate identity fraud.

The report is troubling for a number of reasons:

• Some states, such as Arizona, have mandated that employers in those states use the system to verify eligibility for employment.
• The system is increasing in popularity among employers. In 2006, fewer than 5 million employers used E-Verify. According to Westat, that number will probably grow to about 28 million this year.
• Federal contractors must use the system to verify the employment eligibility of their workers.

Go here for a synopsis of the Weststat report.

The Social Security Administration.

According to an internal audit, the SSA, which runs E-Verify, failed to run checks on its own employees 20% of the time in the past two years. Also, about half the checks that were done weren’t finished in a timely manner, the Washington Times reports.

When companies sign up for E-Verify, they’re required to use the system for all new hires and begin the process within three days after the hire date.

Some critics have used the SSA audit’s findings to argue that the system is impractical in its current form.

What do you think? Do you use E-Verify? Does SSA have an excuse for not following the requirements? Let us know in the comments section below.

A three-year extension for E-Verify was included in the $42.8 billion appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed recently by president Obama.

E-Verify was set to expire but will now run until at least September 2012. Some lawmakers had been pushing for a five- or ten-year extension. The system’s staunchest supporters in Congress are also trying to pass a law making E-Verify mandatory for all employers.

We’ll keep you posted.

In addition to extending the controversial program for three years, Congress reaffirmed its support by approving $137 million for the system — which allows employers to check on the citizenship status and work eligibility of applicants. Congress retained the stipulation that the program be voluntary for private employers who don’t have federal contracts.

The bill now heads to President Obama, who’s expected to sign it into law.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined forces with the National Association of Manufacturers, among others, to lobby Congress to vote the program out of existence. The C of C and NAM contend the system is rife with errors that result in denials of eligibility for workers who here legally.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security presented figures on Capitol Hill indicating the system has a 94% accuracy rate, and that was good enough to override C of C and NAM concerns. Further, some state Chamber of Commerce offices, such as in South Carolina,  have endorsed the system and led the way for passage of state laws that make the system mandatory.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the so-called ‘no-match’ rules (which told employers what to do if the Social Security number provided by a new hire didn’t match the number in the feds’ database) in 2007. Controversy and legal battles have prevented the rule from ever going into effect.

Now, it’s officially off the books. A regulation was published in the Federal Register on October 7 rescinding the rule.

The DHS announced it will focus on promoting the use of E-Verify as the mechanism for preventing the employment of illegal immigrants.

1. National – Federal contractors doing work for more than 120 days with a value of over $100,000, and subcontractors providing goods and services worth more than $3,000 (read more on these requirements here).
2. Arizona – All employers.
3. Arkansas – State contractors.
4. Colorado – State contractors.
5. Florida – State contractors.
6. Georgia –All public employers, contractors and subcontractors.
7. Idaho – State agencies.
8. Minnesota — All hiring authorities within the executive branch of state government, and employers seeking to enter into a state contract worth more than $50,000.
9. Mississippi — All companies with at least 100 employees. By July 1, 2010, companies with 30-99 employees must comply, and the rest by July 1, 2011.
10. Missouri — All public employers.
11. Nebraska — All state employers and contractors. Also, use of E-Verify is required for private employers who request state tax incentives.
12. North Carolina — All state agencies, offices and universities.
13. Oklahoma — Public employers, contractors and subcontractors.
14. Rhode Island — Executive agencies, and companies doing business with the state, including grantees, contractors, subcontractors and vendors.
15. South Carolina — Employers must use E-Verify, or verify that an employee has a valid S.C. driver’s license or I.D. (or one from a state with similar standards). All companies must comply by January 1, 2010.
16. Utah — Public employers, contractors and subcontractors.

The new E-Verify rule for federal contractors has a lot of employers wondering exactly who’s covered by the requirement — and what they have to do now.

To clear up some of the confusion, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published answers to a few of HR’s most common questions about federal contractors and E-Verify:

1. Who’s affected by the rule?

Companies will be required to use E-Verify when they enter into federal contracts with a work period of longer than 120 days and a value of more than $100,000. Also, subcontractors are covered by the rule when the prime contract meets those requirements and the subcontract is for services or construction with a value over $3,000.

2. Which employees must be verified?

Covered contractors are required to verify all new hires, as well as any existing employees assigned to the government contract. That includes employees who perform “substantial duties” under the contract, as opposed to those performing overhead or support work.

3. When do we have to enroll?

The rule went into effect on September 8. Any applicable federal contract signed after that date must include an “E-Verify clause” that requires contractors to use the system.

Companies not already signed up for E-Verify have to enroll within 30 days of being awarded the contract and must begin verifying new hires and current employees working on the contract within 90 days.

Of course, companies can sign up whenever they want, so current or prospective federal contractors might as well enroll before they’re required to.

When you enroll, choose “federal contractor” when asked, “Which category best describes your organization?”

4. What if we already have a government contract?

You won’t be required to sign up for E-Verify until you sign a new contract that contains the E-Verify clause.

5. We already enrolled in E-Verify, but not as a contractor? Do we have to re-enroll?

No, but if you aren’t enrolled as a federal contractor, you will need to update your company profile to categorize your company as a contractor.

For more information from USCIS, click here.

A third of companies are currently using E-Verify, according to a recent Manpower survey of 1,800 HR pros and business owners.

The program’s approval rating is pretty high, according to the survey. Of the respondents who use E-Verify, half rated the system as “very good” in terms of “quality, consistency and speed.” Ratings of “excellent” and “good” were given by 10% and 32%, respectively.

Just 1% said E-Verify was “poor,” and the rest said it was “fair.”

Even without a federal mandate requiring employers to sign up, E-Verify use is on the rise. As of June, 5.5 million employment checks had been completed this year, USA Today reports. That’s compared to 6.6 million in all of 2008, which was twice the number reported for 2007.

What do you think? Do you use E-Verify? If so, how’s it been working? Let us know in the comments section below.