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An amendment to Executive Order 12989 added by President George W. Bush on June 9, 2008,  will require all federal contractors to use the E-Verify system. The proposed regulations were published in the Federal Register on June 12, 2008. The presidential directive requires that federal contractors and their subcontractors use an electronic system to verify employment eligibility for all new hires.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff designated E-Verify as the verification system of choice.

Under the new regulations, federal contractors and sub-contractors must use E-Verify to check the eligibility of current workers on certain contracts, too.

In the first few months of 2008, though, over 69,000 employers had already used E-Verify to check eligibility. So, even before President Bush amended the directive, over 4 million employees had already been checked through E-Verify.

The E-Verify program was developed via a partnership between the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. The program is a re-branding of a program in use since 1997, the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program. The program comes under the jurisdiction of the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS.

The program became essential as a result of the 1986 amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act by Congress. This amendment made hiring unauthorized workers illegal. In response the USCIS created the I-9 Form. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) launched the Telephone Verification System in 1992, which later became the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program.

The E-Verify program is only to be used after an applicant has accepted an offer of employer and filled out the I-9 form. If an employer attempts to use E-Verify prior to that, the company is breaking the law, which the EEOC warns can bring charges of discrimination and expensive lawsuits for the employer. The law also states that the new employee’s eligibility must be checked via E-Verify within 3 days of that worker starting the job for pay.

Posting on E-Verify comes under stringent requirements. All applicants must be notified of the program’s use, and of any anti-discrimination laws that might apply.

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