leading people. leading organizations. d d washington update & august congressional recess shrm...

Leading People. Leading Organizations.

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WASHINGTON UPDATE & AUGUST CONGRESSIONAL RECESS

SHRM CLA WebinarJuly 31, 2013

Leading People. Leading Organizations.2

HR PUBLIC POLICY / WASHINGTON UPDATE & AUGUST RECESS

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Labor and Employment: Employment Non-Discrimination Act Executive nominations Health care

Immigration Reform: Employment verification Trusted employer program

August Congressional Recess

HR Public Policy Issues


HR PUBLIC POLICY / WASHINGTON UPDATE & OUTLOOK

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Michael LaymanSHRM’s Senior Associate, Government Relations



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Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA, S. 815, H.R. 1755)

Introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO)

ENDA would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity

`Gender identity' means the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth.

STATUS: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions approved S. 815 on 7/10/2013. Full Senate may consider the bill this fall.



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Executive nominations

Senate agreed to a deal on long-stalled nominations

Thomas E. Perez confirmed as Secretary of Labor on 7/18/2013

Senate poised to approve full five member-slate of NLRB members Current NLRB chair Mark Pearce (D) Kent Hirozawa (D) Nancy Schiffer (D) Philip Miscimarra (R) Harry I. Johnson (R)



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Health care

Employer mandate in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) delayed until 2015

What else may change?

PPACA’s definition of full-time employee?

Repeal of PPACA’s $2,000 deductible limitation?



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Immigration Reform

Chatrane BirbalSHRM’s Senior Associate of Member Advocacy



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Timing for Immigration Reform

SENATE BILL (S. 744)

KEY HOUSE BILLS (H.R. 1772; H.R. 2131)

Historically when have immigration reform bills passed?

- IRCA of 1986 (PL 99-603) – November 6, 1986- IMMACT of 1990 (PL 101-649) – November 29, 1990- IIRIRA of 1996 (PL 104-208) – September 30, 1996- AC21 of 2000 (PL 106-313) – October 17, 2000

Introduced 4/13 Reviewed 5/13 Passed 6/13

Introduced 4/13 & 5/13 Reviewed 6/13 Floor?



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Border Security Economic Opportunity & Immigration Reform Act (S. 744)

• E-Verify: Preempts state E-Verify laws; mandatory in four years; not fully electronic; no certainty in verifying the worker is who they claim to be.

• Green Cards: Nearly doubles the amount of green cards available today; fast-tracks U.S. STEM advanced degrees to green card; recaptures past unused green cards; creates new 120K-250K merit-based green card cap.

• Non-Immigrant Visas: 115K-180K H-1B Cap; 25K H-1B cap exemption; fast tracks bachelor’s and advanced degree graduates; H-4 work authorization; 6th and 8th year L-1 visas; new outplacement, recruitment, prevailing wage requirements.



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Skills Visa Act (H.R. 2131)

• Green Cards: Provides some new green cards for U.S. STEM PhDs or master’s degrees.

• Non-immigrant Visas: 155K H-1B cap; 40K H-1B cap exemption; fast tracks U.S. STEM bachelor’s/advanced degree graduates; employers to pay higher wages for certain visas.

• Trusted Employer: Allows qualifying employers to register for a single filing process for information that does not change frequently over time, saving resources filed with each petition.



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Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 1772)

Mandatory E-Verify– Preemption of state E-verify laws– E-Verify use required for all employers within two years– No certainty in verifying the worker is who they claim to be



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Immigration Reform – SHRM and ACIP

SHRM/ACIP are focusing our advocacy efforts on three major areas:

Increase system efficiency through, among other improvements, creating a “Trusted Employer” system;

Provide access to highly educated and skilled talent by leaving intact green card provisions and further improving H-1B and L-1 visa provisions to ensure the temporary high-skilled visa system works for employers and;

Give employers certainty in hiring through enabling a single, federal, entirely electronic employment verification system that protects against identity theft through knowledge-based authentication (KBA).



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Immigration Reform

Specifically, we are seeking an amendment that would:

Streamline the employment verification process with a voluntary identity authentication mechanism as a fully available option to employers for employment verification within 18 months of enactment.

The voluntary identity authentication program will use multi-dimensional technology to verify an individual’s identity through publicly available databases (including Social Security, Homeland Security, U.S.-VISIT and passport and visa).

This voluntary authentication program replaces a four-stage, document driven process with modern tools to prevent the use of stolen identities to achieve work approval.

This new approach of identity authentication is needed because the verification system in the bill remains vulnerable to identity theft.



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Immigration Reform- Senate Portman Tester Amendment

• Creation of a fully electronic verification system that integrates the paper-based Form I-9 into the E-Verify system and moves toward a more secure system that authenticates identity and verifies employment eligibility providing better certainty that the person being hired is authorized to work in the U.S.

• Providing employers with a voluntary option to use a knowledge-based authentication (KBA) system if they used it for 100 percent of their new-hire verifications to assure the highest level of certainty, significantly improving the prevention of identity theft in the employment verification process.

• Strengthening the safe harbor for employers for decisions made based on information provided by the E-Verify system.

• The proposal was NOT considered in the Senate.



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Immigration Reform – House Efforts

• Support the Identity Authentication Amendment to H.R. 1772 (Legal Workforce Act) and Make E-Verify More Reliable, Secure

• H.R. 1772 mandates E-Verify for all employers, but does not provide for adequate identity authentication – failing to protect against unauthorized workers and leaving employers unfairly open to liability.

• Adopt an identity authentication amendment, which would preserve H.R. 1772’s underlying E-Verify requirements and add a critical but voluntary step for employers to accurately verify identity.

• A coalition of Washington, DC based organizations are meeting with House members to garner support. Representatives of the meat and poultry industry and the human resources professionals – including the Food Manufacturers Immigration Coalition (FMIC), the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) – support the Identity Authentication Amendment to H.R. 1772.



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• The House is expected to take up immigration reform and specifically E-Verify in September.

• Please meet with your House members during the August recess and urge their support of a modernized E-Verify System.

• Download and Review Fact sheets (these documents may also be used as “leave-behind” sheets)

– Employment Verification (http://bit.ly/SHRME-Verify)

– Trusted Employer (http://bit.ly/SHRMTE)

Immigration Reform – We NEED your HELP!

http://bit.ly/SHRME-Verify

http://bit.ly/SHRMTE



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http://bit.ly/SHRMDD

http://bit.ly/SHRMDD



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Questions on Immigration Reform?



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Contact Us!

Michael Layman 703-535-6058

[email protected]

Chatrane Birbal703-535-6476

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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