Immigration case raises stakes for temporary staffing agencies

The 2007 immigration raids that were followed by guilty pleas by the owner of the McDonald's franchise in Reno, one of the franchisee's current executives and one of its former executives rattled northern Nevada companies.

Enough so, in fact, that they're increasingly asking temporary help companies about the steps they've taken to ensure workers are in the country legally before they're sent out to jobs.

"That's now a regular question," says Steve Conine, owner of the AccuStaff office in Reno. "It's a new concern for employers."

Chip Lindloff, who manages the Reno office of Staffmark, says the company's offices across the nation have found that consistent use of the E-Verify system operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Service Administration provides a competitive advantage.

The online program, which is voluntary, allows employment agencies and other employers to compare a worker's I-9 form against federal databases.

About 5 percent of E-Verify checks identify workers as not authorized for employment. But critics have questioned the accuracy of the system, and its continuation has been hotly debated in Congress this summer.

More than 69,000 businesses nationwide have enrolled in E-Verify, and they've run more than 4 million queries so far this year.

Conine, whose AccuStaff office is among the E-Verify users, says technology is only part of the answer to ensure that the temporary agency sent legal workers out on jobs.

"We need to be extremely diligent about collecting the proper forms of identification," he says.

Lindloff says temp firms that are careful with employment verification tend to see a declining number of applicants who are in the country illegally.

The reason: Word gets around quickly among workers.