Photo by unsure shot/Flickr (Creative Commons)
Proposed legislation called the Legal Workforce Act of 2011 was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Rep. Lamar Smith, a Republican from Texas. The bill seeks to make mandatory and expand the now-voluntary program known as E-Verify, an online system that allows employers to check employees’ legal authorization to work.
The bill follows on the heels of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding a similar Arizona state law from 2007, which demands that employers in that state verify workers’ status or risk losing their business licenses.
Los Angeles immigration attorney and blogger Angelo Paparelli has posted some of the highlights of what the new federal E-Verify bill entails. Among them:
Criminal Penalties for false I-9 attestations and improper use of E-Verify. Individuals would face criminal penalties of up to two years and fines for knowingly furnishing a social security number or DHS-approved ID or authorization number that does not belong to the person or submitting such a number in an E-Verify screening. Helpfully, however, the LWA waives a good faith first violation of the unlawful hiring rules.
E-Verify Use Only for New Hires. Except for federal vendors who must verify current employees assigned to a covered federal contract, the LWA will only apply to new hires. Also, it will not apply to farm workers returning to a former employer.
No Preemption of AZ-style E-Verify Laws. LWA would permit the proliferation of state laws and local rules mandating E-Verify use as recently blessed by the Supreme Court in U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting: “A State, locality, municipality, or political subdivision may exercise its authority over business licensing and similar laws as a penalty for failure to use the verification system.”
There are more highlights in the post, along with a link to the full text of the bill.
Before it was known as E-Verify, the voluntary verification program existed as a pilot program. Over the years, several problems have been reported with its use, including accuracy issues. According to one report released last year based on a study by an outside research firm, more than half of unauthorized workers run through E-Verify resulted in a work authorization.
At the same time, a number of recent city and state measures have been calling for the program’s mandatory use. Among these is a new Georgia anti-illegal immigration law set to take effect July 1, which has sent the state’s agriculture industry into a panic as undocumented workers have reportedly left their jobs.
