Employer Verification Systems: Basic Pilot Program

By Joe Sigg, Arizona Farm Bureau
 
Employer verification of an employee’s work authorizedstatus will become a common feature of the workplace in the future. Some version of a document verification system will be implemented at the employer level.
 
The following describes the current and future federal verification processes.
 
There are two federal employer verification systems in place, but only one can be used to determine whether an employee is work authorized.
 
Social Security Number Verification System
Some people unfamiliar with the process believe that social security number mismatches provide an easy mechanism to determine work authorized status but this is incorrect. The current system allows employers to verify the name and social security number of employees via the Internet and provides certain steps to be followed when mismatches are reported to the employer.
 
The purpose of the Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS) is not to make any determinations as to work-authorized status. The purpose is accuracy improvement in payroll records and reporting which is a major problem area for the Social Security Administration.
 
Significant problems arise for employers and employees, liabilities for the former and injustices for the latter, when the system is used for purposes other than intended. Social security is careful in counseling users accordingly.
 
To be very clear, the SSNVS cannot be used in pre-hiring or screening. Mismatches alone cannot be used by the employer to take adverse actions against any employee. The SSNVS makes no determination regarding a worker’s immigration status.
 
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE)
The systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program has several components including the basic employment verification pilot, known as the basic pilot. Currently this is the only program aimed at the determination of work-authorized status.
 
The mechanism for the basic pilot is a written agreement between the employer, the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. While available to employers, the government reserves the right to determine if the departments can enter into a contract with an employer.
 
The basic pilot cannot be used in pre-hiring nor can it be used to determine work authorized status for employees hired prior to the contract date of the basic pilot. Its only focus is a period of time between hiring and then a process to determine whether the employee is work authorized.
 
At very low-level usage (less than two percent of all U.S. employers), the basic pilot has well-documented reliability issues, error rates, delays in data input and discrimination issues yet to be addressed. It needs more time and resources to become a reliable tool.
 
Homeland Security has indicated the reliability of the results decreases as the labor pool being accessed moves from the native born, to naturalized citizens, to immigrants who are work authorized and then to those not authorized to work in this country.
 
Homeland Security testified to Congress in June 2005 that the basic pilot process was undermined by document and identity fraud. The large number and variety of identity documents created problems for the system. In addition, there were substantial delays in data entry. The timeliness and reliability of response would be hindered with only a relatively small increase in employer participation in the basic pilot.
 
The General Accounting Office (GAO) testified before Congress in August 2005 that the system had an inability to detect fraud, identity theft, document fraud and that the large number of documents undermined the basic pilot. The GAO cited delays, employer non-compliance with their contracts and problems with expansion of the system.
 
The National Immigration Law Center, relying on their own work and citing other studies, testified to Senate Judiciary in October 2005.
 
The Law Center said, “Expansion of electronic employment verification systems is often treated as an easy solution to our immigration troubles…by persons who are unfamiliar with the problems encountered by the current basic pilot program and the improvements and protections that would need to be in place before such a system could be acceptably applied to all U.S. employers. Unfortunately, such a nationwide mandatory system is not yet ready for prime time. If implemented using the existing technology, procedures and databases, the costs would be high and the results frustratingly inaccurate. In addition, an expanded system would result in dangerous privacy breaches and increased discrimination against individuals who look or sound foreign.”
 
The Center further testified as to the inaccuracies, a lack of timeliness and estimates of $11 billion to convert the system from voluntary to a mandatory system.
 
The Bush administration’s budget for system enhancements is about one-percent of this amount. While the enforcement-only bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives provides for mandatory usage, it has delayed its requirements for two years from final passage of the bill.
 
Responsible employers will do their part, but let us not make them policemen in the process without the appropriate tools. Mandatory systems for checking employees work-authorized status will only work if they are timely and reliable.
 
This is all a part of what we call comprehensive reform. We must:
 
  • Fix our borders;
  • Fix the issue of those in the United States without proper documentation;
  • Fix the system of fraudulent documents;
  • Fix the system to verify documents; and
  • Fix the visa program allowing for a legal and reliable labor force.
 
Rushing verification systems without adequate time and without appropriate resources will hurt our economy, increase employer liability and create discriminating situations against employees.