Clearing the Air about E-Verify

The staff at Liberty often receives calls from our users regarding the complicated rules of E-Verify, the government run program that utilizes information stored at the SSA and the Department of Homeland Security to screen for authorized workers.

I found an article today that exemplifies just such confusion, and even worse, the reporter doesn't provide any details regarding the relatively straightforward process for E-Verify.

Two workers for Chicago businesses have filed complaints against their respective companies about their termination for being unauthorized by the E-Verify system.

The employees claim they were wrongfully fired after E-Verify was used. In a broad statement that goes virtually unidentified, the reporter states "The the system has some widely reported flaws." The widely reported flaws are mostly generated by advocates against the system itself. Here are the statistics.

Employees cannot be fired until 8 federal working days after their Tentative NonConfirmation is returned. Employees cannot even be processed with E-Verify until after their Form I9 paperwork is complete and they are on payroll. Both these measures are designed to protect not the company, but the employee, against acts of discrimination. The measures are good ones, and will prevent the unlawful firing and denial of the right to work for those persons who are authorized to do so.