Thread: Arizona's employers slow to get with program

Arizona's employers slow to get with program
By Becky Pallack
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.30.2008

E-Verify, the federal database for verifying a new hire's legal status, largely has worked fine for Arizona employers.
That's in part because only 15 percent of employers in the state have signed up to use it.
Just 22,000 of the 145,000 Arizona employers have registered, said Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Legal Arizona Workers Act that took effect Jan. 1 requires all Arizona employers to use E-Verify.
The federal agency expected a lot more employers to have registered by now, Sebrechts said.
Critics of the law predicted the system would crash under the load of new queries, but it didn't.
Early on, there were some sign-up delays because the system was busy, said Julie Pace, a Phoenix employment attorney who represented business groups in a court challenge of the law.
"We're in good shape at this point," Sebrechts said.
Human resources experts in Tucson had a variety of guesses about why registration has been low:
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Some see no explicit penalty for not signing up.

Not surprising that there is foot dragging by the cheap labor addicts, but I hope the feds finally crack down on those employers who break the law.

This slow registration should not really be a cause for concern.

From what I see in terms of the numbers of illegals losing their jobs, employers right now are weeding them out and, in the industries typically hiring them.....construction, for example....now is the perfect time to get their ducks in a row because of the lack of work and this is exactly what we hear is happening.

The lack of employees right now is not hurting them in the least and they have plenty of time to get used to the E-Verify system, train those they need to train in using it, etc.

Just consider the source of all the crying.....big national and international corporations and illegal aliens who are playing "contractor" and will now stick out like a sore thumb bringing an end to their illegally run businesses.

The list of jobs is not just the construction that they are taking here in Phoenix, AZ. The jobs a Buger King, McDonalds(one man owns 15 of them who has been fighting the law), mow-lawn service business and over 95 per cent of the Landscape business, then there is all the Maid services for the hotels and then last is all the illegals that are working for many of the apartment companies that are here in the valley. and I have only touch on a few of the business that are using them so they can make lots of money without paying a good wage to an American who is legal and wants to work a good job.

if you live in arizona-I urge you to ask for job applications and ask if they are using e-verify-if not ask why and remind them it is the law and it looks like discrimination against american workers-I ask for applications(though,I have no intention of working there) at placesthat seem unwilling to hire anyone put non english speakers

This whole E-verify thing is a joke. My husband was a cook, and before January when employers were first supposed to start checking people's citizenship, his hours got cut more and more (he worked with a lot of people who said they were citizens, yet didn't speak a word of English) until he had to quit because we are expecting a baby and he needed more hours. We assumed he would have an easier time finding a different job, because of E-verify, but the illegals who were working decided to stay forever (because it's not fair to check on existing employees?) and also started taking multiple part time jobs with different employers just in case they were let go. A lot of guys he worked with said they were working for some employers just a few hours a week, and if they needed to they could increase their hours as long as they didn't quit because then they would have to be verified. He applied at hotels that were quoted as saying they desperately need cooks, but have to apply for visas for workers because Americans just don't apply. He was blown off again and again. He called all the time, and never got an interview, despite years of experience and a great work record, and terrific references. So now he's working as a DAY LABORER in landscaping. This is a job usually held by illegals, and the pay is awful. Restaurants aren't advertising nearly as much since this E-verify thing, because none of the illegals are leaving, and are willing to work for minimum wage and less hours. He knows so many illegals, and can't report them because they are using other peoples names and ssns, so he will be arrested if he does report, because if checked, they'll come up as "legal" just because the name and ssn match. AZ has to change this to allow people to report without fear of arrest or fines, and also should randomly check people who are already employed. If someone doesn't speak English they should have to prove they have a green card, as they obviously aren't a citizen. And naturally, Gov Napolitano is constantly saying that illegals aren't employed because no one has been caught so far, and people aren't reporting employers, so apparently that proves it.