Council approves worker eligibility system

Tuesday Oct 06 2009 7:03 PM

As the current recession forces job reductions and boosts demand for existing jobs, Pierce County will now have a tool to ensure that those who work for the county are lawfully able to do so.

The County Council today, Oct. 6, unanimously authorized the county to participate in E-Verify, a federal Internet database that instantly confirms whether or not job applicants have documents establishing their eligibility to work in the United States. Applicants for county jobs will be screened using E-Verify, and most businesses seeking to do contract work for the county will be required to use the system for their own employees.

"The United States accepts more people from other nations than all other countries combined," said Councilmember Dick Muri, the ordinance's prime sponsor. "E-Verify gives us a way to ensure that U.S. jobs go to those who have earned the right to work here."
 
As part of the ordinance (2009-74s), businesses would need to confirm they are enrolled in E-Verify if they are seeking road or other county public works contracts worth more than $100,000. Those applying for any other contract worth more than $25,000 must do the same.

E-Verify works by allowing employers to electronically compare employees' information taken from the federal Form I-9 - the paper-based employment form used for all new hires - against more than 449 million records in the Social Security Administration database and 80 million records in the Department of Homeland Security's immigration database.

The system has proven effective at screening out workers with questionable status. Of all new hires screened by E-Verify, 2.8 percent are eventually found to have documents that can't be confirmed by the system.

The city of Lakewood uses E-Verify for all of their contracts, and 11 other U.S. states use some form of E-Verify requirement for their state and local contracts. The federal government also uses the system to check the status of its own new hires and requires its contractors to participate.

"It's time to make a stand to protect U.S. jobs for those who are legally allowed to have them," Councilmember Shawn Bunney said. "This was a hard path to go down, but it's the right path."

Read County Executive's statement.

CONTACT: Brad Chatfield, Council Communications Manager, 253-798-6626

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