Our Union met with CDPH regarding the department’s intent to use the Federal Government’s E-Verify+ system to verify continued employment eligibility for existing CDPH employees on Tuesday December 9. E-Verify+ is a program stored on the Federal Department of Homeland Security database that may put our private information at risk.
Per CDPH, they are implementing this process for two reasons. First, to come into compliance with federal regulations on employees performing federally funded work, and second to remedy incomplete eligibility records identified in a recent audit. CDPH learned of this requirement for employees working on federally funded projects earlier this year, and it is not clear how long they were out of compliance. The E-Verify system has been in existence since 2007.
As a result of both the non-compliance and seeking a remedy for the audit information, the department made the decision to implement E-Verify+ for all employees to ensure uniform and complete records for all employees.
Our Union team raised serious concerns about the security of the federal E-Verify databases that will store the information. We also raised concerns that the information provided to impacted employees didn’t clarify important details of the implementation, such as whether employees are expected to provide more information for E-Verify+ than they had to provide with their initial I-9 form.
CDPH stated that there is no intent to gather more information for E-Verify+ than was gathered for the initial I-9 and shared that they opted to utilize E-Verify+ specifically so that employees can update eligibility records remotely.
CDPH also confirmed that they are in the process of drafting FAQ’s and have agreed to partner with our Union for input on those FAQ’s. They agreed not to begin the next phase until those FAQ’s have been distributed. CDPH also committed to noticing our Union any time an employee’s re-verification process needs to be appealed or remedied to ensure employees have both departmental and Union support, which fortunately did not happen in the first phase.
Our Union is still in open conversation on this issue and will continue to pressure CDPH to take steps to protect employee private data as they work to maintain Federal compliance. We will continue to keep employees updated on the status of this implementation. If you have questions or need to update your contact information to ensure you receive updates, you can reach out to our Member Resource Center at 866-471-7348 (SEIU). You can also direct questions to the Chair of your Bargaining Unit or your local steward.