HR Initiative Files Brief Supporting Employers in Oklahoma Lawsuit

Washington, D.C. – The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce today joined with the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. in a legal effort to overturn an Oklahoma statute requiring all employers in the state to use the federal employment verification system known as “E-Verify.”

The HR Initiative, representing the nation’s leading human resource organizations – including hundreds of thousands of HR professionals and thousands of U.S. employers from every sector of the economy – filed its amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in support of a suit filed by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

“A patchwork of state and local laws mandating participation in the flawed E-Verify system is not in the national interest, yet that is just what is happening today,” said Mike Aitken, Director of Governmental Affairs, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).  “Ten states presently require the use of E-Verify for some or all employers, yet the requirements are not consistent, creating an increasingly difficult environment for multi-state employers.”

In presenting its case, the HR Initiative brief stated:

The flaws in the E-Verify system have resulted in legally-authorized individuals being improperly denied employment, as well as non-work authorized individuals being improperly verified by the system.  Several large employers using E-Verify have been raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), resulting in a severe disruption to their business operations because non-work authorized individuals were improperly cleared by E-Verify.  These false positives mean that employers have little if no assurance that using the E-Verify system will result in an authorized workforce.

…In sum, E-Verify is a flawed system which not only results in unacceptably high numbers of erroneous nonconfirmations, but also erroneously clears for employment many unauthorized workers who have engaged in identity theft.  Indeed, Congress has apparently recognized that E-Verify is not sufficiently reliable to go beyond the experimental phase, as it has repeatedly rejected efforts to compel participation in the program, and has very recently extended the program only until March 2009.

The HR Initiative has advocated in favor of replacing E-Verify with a more technically sophisticated and mandatory national employment verification system that would protect the interests of employers and employees alike. 

A complete copy of the HR Initiative amicus curiae brief is available at http://www.legal-workforce.org/hr_initiative.

The HR Initiative for a Legal Workforce includes:

•    American Council on International Personnel
•    College and University Professional Association for Human Resources
•    Food Marketing Institute
•    HR Policy Association
•    International Public Management Association for Human Resources
•    National Association of Manufacturers
•    National Franchisee Association
•    Society for Human Resource Management