|
LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Larry Bourgerie, MN State Legislative Director
July 22 2008
Legislative Report Archive
DHS Official Questions SHRM's Motives
on Employment Verification Issue
On July 11, 2008, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) accused SHRM of lobbying in favor the "New Employee
Verification Act" (NEVA) in order to hire illegal workers.
In a 914 word blog post titled "Exactly What Do They Want?",
Stewart Baker, the DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy,
repeatedly suggested that SHRM's opposition to the E-Verify
program and its support for NEVA is motivated by a desire to
circumvent the immigration laws. Mr. Baker writes:
"I suppose corporate hiring is easier if you can hire illegal
workers, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that SHRM wants
to kill a program that makes it harder to hire illegal
workers."
We find DHS's false characterization to be uninformed and
insulting to the human resource profession. You can read
DHS's full text by clicking here.
SHRM Acting President and CEO China Gorman responded to Mr.
Baker's blog entry with a letter to Michael Chertoff,
Secretary of Homeland Security. In her letter, Ms. Gorman
reminded Chertoff that his agency failed to respond to SHRM's
repeated requests for a meeting last year to discuss how to
improve the nation's employment verification system. You can
view SHRM's letter to DHS by clicking here.
As you may be aware, SHRM has been supporting a bipartisan
proposal to create a secure, efficient and reliable electronic
employment verification system that would help prevent
unauthorized employment. The proposal, known as NEVA, is
sponsored by Representatives Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Gabrielle
Giffords (D-AZ). It would replace the voluntary E-Verify
program with a far more effective, mandatory employment
verification system.
As a SHRM member and HR professional, you may wish to make your
Senators and Representatives aware of DHS's inappropriate
comments about HR professionals.
To write your elected officials in Congress about this matter,
please follow the steps below:
Action Needed
- Log onto HR Voice by CLICKING HERE.
- Sign in using your member number and last name at the
upper-right corner.
- Choose "Write your elected officials."
- Click on "Contact Your Member of Congress About DHS's
False Characterization About SHRM's Position on E-Verify"
under the heading "Take Immediate Action on these Hot
Issues."
Legislative Update Archive
|
|
