Aaron Rader from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security talks about using the E-Verify program to check the immigration status of workers for small businesses.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy

PROVIDENCE –– About 60 people yesterday attended a two-hour presentation about a federal computer system designed to enable employers to verify whether their employees are working in this country legally.

Personnel from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and two private companies conducted the free seminar about the E-Verify system as part of a nationwide effort to educate employers about the program that is becoming mandatory in a growing number of states.

Rhode Island is one of five states –– the others being Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma –– that require all state agencies and companies that do business with their state to use the E-Verify system, according to yesterday’s slide presentation. In Rhode Island, the mandate is part of an executive order recently issued by Governor Carcieri to control illegal immigration.

Rhode Island is also among 15 states considering legislation to mandate the use of the E-Verify system for all new hires. The proposed legislation would apply to all Rhode Island businesses with three or more employees, covering some 33,000 businesses as well as nonprofit and other organizations.

A House version of the bill (H 7107 Sub.A) could come up for a hearing at the State House as early as Monday.

Yesterday, an official with the Homeland Security Department and representatives from Hire Image LLC, which specializes in background checks, and USI New England, an insurance company, offered an overview of current and pending laws related to employee verification, and urged employers to become familiar with the program.

Every year, U.S. employers file millions of wage reports –– 8 million last year alone –– with invalid Social Security numbers, many of which are being used by illegal immigrants. The federal government has been aware of the problem, and has even identified the most egregious violators, but until recently few employers have been prosecuted for immigration offenses.

An analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center estimated the number of illegal immigrants who work in Rhode Island at 20,000 to 40,000.

So far, only 141 of all Rhode Island employers have voluntarily registered with E-Verify as of yesterday, said Aaron D. Rader, of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington. Most of the initial 75 who registered were from Dunkin’ Donuts shops, said Hire Image’s chief executive officer Christine Cunneen.

Supporters say it’s a reasonable and relatively easy way for employers to screen their new hires. Critics say the system will create more work and expense, and produce too many “non-verifications” for reasons that have nothing to do with immigration status.

An employer who wants to use the E-Verify system must sign up for an online tutorial, which can take anywhere from 40 minutes to six hours, depending on whom you ask. The user then has to pass a test to prove mastery of the system.

To access the system, an employer enters the name, birth date and Social Security number of the employee. The information is then checked against the databases of the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Within seconds, the program either verifies the person as “worker eligible,” or offers a “tentative non-verification.”

In the latter case, the employee has eight days to challenge the finding and correct the record. During this period, the employer must keep the employee on the payroll. If the worker does not contest the finding or cannot resolve the dispute, he or she can be fired.

An employer who uses the E-Verify system is subject to an audit by the Department of Homeland Security.

Carrie Beers, a human resources consultant with the insurer USI New England, asked those attending the seminar how many of them ask the temporary agencies that send them workers to verify employment eligibility.

Only one hand went up.

Questions raised about the E-Verify system by those attending the seminar included whether the system would eventually be applied not just to new hires but all employees. Could the “tentative non-verification” reports generated by an employer’s inquiry be used by law enforcement? If an employee has a problem with their legal status, is there anything that the employer can do to help?

The answers were: Maybe. Maybe. Doubtful.

Diane M. Christian, a human resources generalist at the Providence Community Health Centers, a nonprofit agency, said the presenters “make it seem pretty simplistic” but she was not convinced. About 75 percent to 80 percent of the center’s 285 employees are bilingual. If names of their employees came up tentative non-verification, she asked, “how quickly do those letters go out to people” so they can try to correct the problem?

The amount of potential paperwork involved also worried her. “We’ve got a three-person staff in our H.R. department,” Christian said. “We do everything ourselves.”

On the other side, Carol Ennis, the assistant office administrator at the Providence certified public accounting firm of Yarlas, Kaplan, Santilli & Moran, Ltd., said E-Verify was good for businesses.

Ennis, who manages other companies’ payrolls, said that by the time an employee’s Social Security number is flagged by the government, it may be for a payroll year that is two years old. By then, she said, “they’re gone and we can’t find them.”

For more information about the E-Verify system, employers can call the Department of Homeland Security at (888) 464-4218 on Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or visit the E-Verify Web site at www.dhs.gov/E-Verify.

larditi@projo.com