The restaurant industry isfacing a severe worker shortage amid a low unemployment rate, feweryoung people in the workforce and competition from gig-economyemployers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Restaurants hungry for workers say they'll keep hiring eventhough a government system to help them weed out undocumented employees is, ironically, notworking because of the government shutdown over immigration.

E-Verify, a web-based Department of Homeland Security program toconfirm recently hired employees are authorized to work in theU.S., is one of the government services that's not running amid thestandoff between President Donald Trump and Congress. Companiestrying to use it are met with a red banner: “Due to the lapse infederal funding, this website will not be actively managed.”

Insights: How the shutdown is affectingemployers

There's no way restaurants can slow hiring now, even with anincreased risk of bringing on undocumented workers, said TrentColford Sr., regional director of operations at Hamra Enterprises,which operates 90 Wendy's locations. The industry is facing asevere worker shortage amid a low unemployment rate, fewer youngpeople in the workforce and competition from gig-economyemployers.

“We're definitely exposed, and there's an increased risk,”Colford said in an interview. “Of the people that we'll hire inthis time frame, 95 percent of them will be OK. So there's probablythat 5 percent that will be at risk.”

Hamra, which also operates Panera Bread and Noodles & Co.stores, uses E-Verify to check on new hires. While the system ismostly voluntary, 24 states have some sort of requirement foremployers to use it, according to LawLogix. Dunkin' Brands GroupInc. compels its franchisees to use E-Verify, and Chipotle MexicanGrill Inc. uses the system as well.

“We are continuing to hire and complete the necessary paperworkjust as we normally do,” said Laurie Schalow, a spokeswoman forChipotle, which doesn't franchise and had almost 64,000 hourlyworkers as of December 2017. Wendy's Co. says the company haslooked into it and isn't aware of any disruptions to its hiringbecause of the shutdown.

Dunkin' Brands is “hopeful the government shutdown will end toease this burden,” Mike Shutley, the chain's vice president forgovernment affairs and sustainability, said in a statement.

Connection to labor

The partial government closure, now approaching its fourth week,was triggered just before Christmas as Congress spurned Trump'srequest to spend more than $5 billion to build a wall along theU.S.-Mexico border.

The shuttering of many U.S. government services and websites islikely to continue as Trump shows no signs of capitulating. OnWednesday, he walked out of a shutdown meeting with congressionalleaders, calling it a “ waste of time.”

The shutdown is “connected to the labor issue in many ways,”said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. “The economyis growing and labor pools are tight, and we need more people. Sohopefully they can continue to have some dialogs and work somestuff out.”

White Castle said only six of its restaurants in Tennessee useE-Verify, and that they're not changing much. Since the shutdown,the locations have hired 16 people, and are keeping a computerspreadsheet with information to use when the site is runningagain.

“We're just holding the records, and then the intent is just torun them when everything is back online,” Richardson said.

Read more:

• Shutdown woes will hit retirement for governmentemployees
• December hiring topped forecasts, wagessurged
• Administration praises E-Verify, SHRM raisesquestions

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