Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to adopt a substitute amendment that requires an Electronic Employment Verification System to be implemented and used by employers to ensure that undocumented immigrants are not employed and makes it illegal to hire or continue to employ undocumented immigrants.

Highlights:

• Makes it illegal to hire undocumented immigrants (Sec. 301).

• Calls for an Electronic Employment Verification System to be implemented that checks that identity information input into the system matches the information that the Commissioner of Social Security has and that identifies an individual as eligible or ineligible for employment in the U.S. (Sec. 301).

• Mandates that employers use the Electronic Employment Verification System to verify employment status of all employees 18 months after $400 million has been appropriated to implement the system (Sec. 301).

• Requires employers to submit an employer identification number for each employee to the Electronic Verification System (Sec. 301).

• Sets the penalty of a fine not more than $5,000, prison for no more than 3 years or both for an employee who falsely says he or she is eligible for employment in the U.S. (Sec. 301).

• Requires that employers certify that they have examined a US passport, driver's license or identity card issued by a state or Commonwealth of the U.S, a permanent resident card, an employment authorization card, or a document with a photograph of the individual or their name, date of birth, gender and address for each employee (Sec. 301).

• Protects any employer that relies on the Electronic Employment Verification System in good faith from liability for an employment related action (Sec. 301).

• Requires employers to fire any employee that the system confirms is not eligible to work in the U.S (Sec. 301).

• Allows any potential employee that receives notification of their ineligibility to work in the U.S to request an administrative and then a judicial review of their status (Sec. 301).

• Authorizes the payment of lost wages to any individual that was wrongfully categorized as ineligible to work in the U.S (Sec. 301).

• Sets the penalty of at $500 to $4,000 for each illegal immigrant that an employer continues to employee after verification that they are ineligible to work in the U.S and increases the fine for each subsequent violation within a 24 month period (Sec. 301).

• Provides criminal penalties of at most $20,000 for each undocumented immigrant, imprisonment for not more than 3 years or both for an employer with a pattern or practice of violating employment, recruitment, or referral requirements (Sec. 301).

• Allows employers who are adversely affected by a final determination to request a judicial review of the decision (Sec. 301).

• Bans employers who violate the employment requirements repeatedly from receiving or maintaining government contracts for 5 years (Sec. 301).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text