The basic answer is "yes". Presumably this statement appears in a loop; Perl will exit the loop if $_ matches the five characters you've specified (not three). Your pattern matches, in order

1. beginning of line
2. double quote
3. capital E
4. capital M
5. capital P
6. double quote
7. end of line

The parentheses following the if are not necessary. Another way to do this would be: next if $_ eq '"EMP"'

HTH