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Family and Medical Leave Act, Military Family Leave Final Regulations 
Get important background information concerning the FMLA rule changes, along with succinct explanations of the new rules and how they have changed from prior regulations.
House Judiciary Chairman Committee John Conyers (D-Mich) and Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif) plan on bringing a bill (H.R. 5596) to the House floor before the August recess that would extend the federal government's E-Verify program through December 31, 2018, according to a June 23, 2008, etter sent by the representatives to the House Committee on Appropriations. Conyers and Lofgren want the House to consider the bill, which was introduced by Representative Ken Calvert (D-Cal), on the House's suspension calendar. Suspension bills cannot be amended and must be passed by a two-thirds supermajority.
"It is our intention to move this bill or another bill that would extend [E-Verify] on the suspension calendar before the August Congressional recess so that out continuing exploration of possible improvements to the current system can continue without the specter of the complete elimination of the current program," wrote the representatives. Usually bills on the suspension calendar are limited to minor non-controversial legislation. E-Verify is the voluntary web based-based system operated by DHS's US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) bureau in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. The accuracy of E-Verify has been heavily debated in Congress, with proposals offered that would replace program. More information on E-Verify can be found at: http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm.
Calvert's bill, which has 16 cosponsors, makes no substantive changes to the E-Verify program, which is scheduled to sunset in November 2008. The bill simply would extend the sunset date to December 31, 2018. Calvert tried to attach the bill as an amendment to the FY 2009 Homeland Security spending bill when it was marked up in June by the House Appropriations Committee. The committee rejected the amendment. "E-Verify is used by over 70,000 employers, the members of this committee represent over 59,000 employers who are using E-Verify and 22 of the members here are co-sponsors of bi-partisan legislation to make E-Verify mandatory," said Calvert at the markup of the Homeland Security spending bill. Calvert is the original author of the E-Verify program, which is mandatory in the states of Arizona and Mississippi. Calvert testified on his legislation to make E-Verify mandatory (H.R. 19) and to extend the current program (H.R. 5596) before the Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law on April 27, 2007 and June 10, 2008.
At those hearings, which discussed current and proposed employment eligibility verification systems and their potential impact, Calvert s bill was contrasted to the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA) (H.R. 5515), proposed by Representative Sam Johnson (R-Texas). While E-Verify relies on records from USCIS and the SSA, NEVA is built on verifying new hires electronically through states' existing new-hire reporting (a process already mandated by federal law to enhance child support enforcement), and would replace the current Form I-9 process used to verify whether employees are work authorized in the United States. The Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) supports NEVA. Under NEVA, "all employers would be required to participate in a completely electronic employment verification system that improves upon E-Verify by replacing the paper-based, error-prone, I-9 work-status verification process with a paperless system," said Susan R. Meisinger, head of SHRM.
For more information on this and other topics, consult CCH Employment Practices Guide or CCH Labor Relations.
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