Employers gear up for verification system

By GENE ZALESKI, T&D Staff Writer
The Times and Democrat
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 4:15 am

Some Orangeburg businesses are ready, while some are still getting there. But all will be required to use a federal system to verify their new employees' legal status starting Jan. 1.
Automated Business Systems owner Gloria Garrison said her business is ready for the E-verify system.
"I think it is very good and it is very important that we are hiring people who are here legally in the United States," Garrison said. "It is important to check the legal status of everyone ... because if they are not legal, they don't have Social Security numbers and then we can get in trouble. We want to keep jobs open for the legal U.S. citizens."
Automated Business Systems has six employees who have worked there for 20 years or more. Garrison said the business has not implemented E-verify since it has not had any recent hires.
"We have been doing it with the (Employment Eligibility Verification) I-9 form for years and now we will start doing the E-verify," she said. "We make sure to do everything we are supposed to do by the book."
South Carolina's Illegal Immigration Reform Act, which was signed into law in June, requires employers to use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's E-verify system. Employers now must:
Verify employees' work authorization through the E-verify program administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
No longer confirm a new employee's employment authorization with a driver's license or state identification card.
E-verify is a free, Internet-based system that compares the information an employee provides on Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, against millions of government records maintained by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
The database generally provides results in three to five seconds.
If the information matches, the employee is eligible to work in the United States. If there's a mismatch, E-verify will alert the employer and the employee will be allowed to work while he or she resolves the problem.
South Carolina's E-verify requirements were not affected by a federal judge's decision last week to block part of South Carolina's immigration law.
Richard Lackey, Cox Industries Inc. general counsel, said the company has been using E-verify and has been pleased with it.
"While we do not encourage more government regulation of business, this may be a necessary step until a larger immigration reform bill is passed at the national level," Lackey said. "E-verify is free and very simple to use. As it specifically relates to Cox, it is really a ‘non-event.'"
Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce President Ralph Faulling Jr. said the chamber has not taken a position for or against the E-verify requirements.
"It is the law and we want to make sure our members are aware of the law and make sure we can help them find out what they need to do," Faulling said. E-verify will mostly impact small businesses "that have not used the technology to go through the E-verify process."
"We are offering to our members to help them get up to date," he said.
South Carolina Bank and Trust Vice President of Human Resources Leslie Chaplin says the bank started using E-verify two years ago.
"It has worked fine," she said. "It only takes a few minutes. It has not been difficult at all."
Chaplin said the system has only added about five minutes to the employee verification process. HR Assistant Caroline Farmer said the biggest challenge is getting employees verified within a three-day period, because the company has locations within three states.
Regional Medical Center Staffing and Retention Director Kim Westbury said the hospital will start using E-verify for its first group of orientees on Jan. 9.
"The on-line system is user friendly and isn't time consuming," Westbury said. "We can find out within five minutes whether or not an employee is authorized to work within the U.S."
Westbury said while some may argue it's redundant, "they have made it easy for employers to process this extra step and the information has already been collected on the I-9.
"The law states that disputes will be settled with a prospective employee within eight days and I think that is fast also. It takes the burden off the employer to have those hard conversations."
Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551.



Read more: http://thetandd.com/news/local/emplo...#ixzz1hktRmnGL