Comprehensive Immigration Reform on the Horizon
July, 2009
E-Verify Will be Mandatory for Federal Contractors on September 8, 2009
Employers are undoubtedly familiar with their obligation to make sure that they do not knowingly employ anyone who does not have a legal right to work in the United States. Many employers may also recall the controversial "no-match" rule, which was proposed by the Bush administration and would have required employers to fire workers whose social security information did not match the records of the Social Security Administration. That rule never went into effect due to challenges in federal court by advocates for immigrants and businesses.
Now, beginning on September 8, 2009, the Obama administration will require businesses that solicit and/or win federal contracts to use a government electronic database to verify their employees' employment eligibility through a web-based program known as E-Verify. E-Verify is run by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration. E-Verify works by allowing participating employers to electronically compare employee information taken from the Form I-9 against records in the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases. Results are returned to the employer within seconds. To learn more or to enroll in the E-Verify program, employers can visit the Department of Homeland Security's website at www.dhs.gov.
E-Verify is currently free and available to all employers in all 50 states; more than 130,000 employers use the system voluntarily. Some states have already enacted legislation making the use of E-Verify mandatory for all employers in those states, including Arizona, Mississippi and South Carolina. Idaho, Utah, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, North Carolina, and Georgia have made it mandatory for state agencies and/or contractors. Similar legislation is currently pending in a handful of other states, including Kansas, Arkansas, Indiana and Rhode Island.
Although E-Verify will be mandatory under federal law only for federal contractors, there is a movement in Congress to make it mandatory for all employers nationwide. Stay tuned.