Grace Bateman and Angelo Paparelli Quoted in the Daily Journal
“U.S. Colleges Grapple With Worker Status Verification”

Grace Bateman and Angelo Paparelli were quoted in the September 24, 2009 Daily Journal article, “U.S. Colleges Grapple With Worker Status Verification.” The article discussed how U.S. colleges may soon be forced to verify workers’ immigration status using a new federal electronic system.

According to the article, last month a federal judge in Maryland cleared the way for the Obama administration to require all federal contractors to use E-Verify, an electronic system that checks if workers are eligible to work in the United States. The rule applies to all employers who enter into a federal contract containing the mandatory E-Verify clause on or after September 8, 2009, including colleges that hold federal contracts. However, it does not apply to colleges that receive federal research grants and will exclude university employees who receive government security clearance. Grace noted that “their immigration has already been cleared when they got their security clearance.”

The article noted that this is not the first time colleges have wrestled with immigration and employment issues. Grace commented, “Universities are already in the position of a Boeing or a Lockheed Martin. It’s not as if E-Verify is transforming a university. If they have government contracts they have additional obligations.”

According to the article, the new rule has left employers scrambling to comply and struggling to decide which employees are subject to the rule. Angelo noted that “in addition to new hires, employers are trying to understand what they need to do about existing employees. The new rule is likely to test E-Verify’s ability to deal with mass verification. You have to remember, this massive expansion of E-Verify is likely to create pressures on the database. And we don’t know if it’s ready for prime time.”