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About 4,000 California Department of Public Health employees have been notified they must use a federal verification system to prove they are US citizens or at least legally eligible to work.
Agency leaders said in a memo obtained by CalMatters that a review is required to receive federal funds, but employees and unions are resisting the directive.
In the memo, the department’s deputy director of human resources asked employees to meet a series of deadlines ending on April 10. A separate document released by the department said that failure to comply with the verification could result in a loss to the state contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the National Death Index, which collects death certificate data from authorities across the country.
The department is also taking steps to address incomplete employment eligibility records identified in a recent audit, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1000, which represents about 3,000 department employees.
Like other employers in the US, all new employees of the California Department of Health complete a federal Form I-9 to prove that they are eligible for employment. The department is now asking them to sign up for E-Verify, a program administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Social Security Administration. This system compares the information provided by an I-9 clerk with records in federal databases, including those of Social Security and the Department of Homeland Security. In some cases, it also requires employers to compare each applicant’s personal photo with the one they provided during the E-Verify process. The memo says employees will specifically use E-Verify+, which combines I-9 completion with verification . Employees hired before November can choose not to use this particular version of E-Verify.
SEIU Local 1000 President Annika Walls told CalMatters in an email that requiring all employees to use E-Verify “raised serious concerns for our members about privacy, data security and unnecessary verification of workers who are already legally employed.”
The union sent a petition to the state agency’s leaders last month to express concern about the background check and to emphasize that the employees provided documents proving their ability to work when they were hired. Walls told CalMatters that the health agency is currently the only state department in California that the union is aware of that has asked its employees to verify their legal status. The union represents about 100,000 state employees in 140 state agencies, boards, commissions and departments.
“When federal systems and funding conditions are used to justify increased data collection on workers, red flags are raised, especially when workers already meet work eligibility requirements,” he wrote. “Our members are concerned that their personal data is being sent to federal systems with some accuracy and security issues. And this comes at a time when both American citizens and immigrant workers are understandably concerned about how federal agencies can access or use their work data.”
The E-Verify+ requirement creates fear and uncertainty among employees and could affect future staffing and retention, said Jacqueline Tkach, president of the California Association of Professional Scientists-UAW Local 1115, a union that represents about 800 health department employees. With reports of ICE activity at workplaces and people being detained on the street, the timing couldn’t be worse.
“E-Verify+ is not a neutral administrative tool. It is deeply integrated with DHS databases, including the systems used by ICE, and relies on biometrics and interagency data sharing,” he said in a statement shared with CalMatters. “Introducing this at a time when immigrant communities and public health scientists are being openly attacked by the current federal administration is extremely troubling.”
The California Department of Public Health did not respond to multiple requests for comment. State Information Officer Nicole Skow told CalMatters that the California Department of Human Resources does not control how state agencies verify employment eligibility and that the use of E-Verify is determined at the department level.
“This raises suspicions, especially when these workers already meet eligibility requirements for work.”
Annika Walls, President of SEIU Local 1000
Since its inception in the 1990s, E-Verify has in theory been a voluntary program for employers, but over time it has become mandatory for an increasing number of them. The federal government requires E-Verify for certain contracts since 2009 Mr more than 20 countries They already require it for their own contracts or to issue commercial licenses. Earlier this month, Florida lawmakers passed a bill requiring employers of all sizes to use the federal program.
Critics of E-Verify say the program needs reforms to address errors, including when people commit identity fraud they get jobs they shouldn’t have and false positives that cause people to lose the jobs they are legally allowed to have. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and E-Verify’s error rate, if Congress passed an E-Verify mandate today, the work eligibility status of more than 120,000 people would be mislabeled, allowing ineligible immigrants to work and labeling some authorized workers as ineligible, which could result in lost wages or jobs, said Congressman Jamie Raskin, D-Md. during a hearing last month where members of Congress debated a bill that would require the use of E-Verify for all federal contracts.
The Department of Health’s efforts to prove eligibility come as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramps up Form I-9 audits that may precede raids . It also follows the shooting of two people by ICE agents in Minnesota, the death of several people in ICE detention centers Mr numerous newspaper reports indicating that the Department of Homeland Security intends to implement similar tactics in California and New York.
The department may want to prepare for or prevent an ICE audit. I-9 audits have increased in Minnesota in recent weeks, Minneapolis-based immigration attorney Matthew Webster told CalMatters. Webster noted that some appear indiscriminate, with audit notices delivered “primarily door-to-door,” and others appear vindictive, as in the case of one hospital where staff protested. about the treatment ICE gave to a patient shortly before the hospital was audited and at a St. Paul toy store that handed out whistles that protesters use to alert neighbors of ICE activity shortly before the audit . Webster predicts these audits will become more common as tens of billions of dollars continue to flow into the police agency from the federal budget.
A set of “Frequently Asked Questions” written by the California Department of Public Health and distributed to employees describes that E-Verify+ aims to “reduce errors, streamline onboarding and improve the overall employee experience.”
However, one official, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation, told CalMatters that in light of recent events, he is concerned about the department providing photos of DHS employees through E-Verify. He also said the health department should have made clear that employees can opt out of using the “plus” version of E-Verify and should extend that option to people hired since November, who must always use E-Verify+, according to the questionnaire.
“Nowhere in the memo does it tell us we can opt out,” they said. “This information only came after staff raised their concerns with the principal.”
Correction : The original version of this article did not correctly describe what health department officials should be checking for. It’s about eligibility for work, whether through citizenship or other legal channels.
This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under license Creative Commons Attribution/Attribution-Noncommercial.