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Companies holding federal contracts need to be aware of important deadlines regarding the new E-Verify regulations.

These regulations require that employers use the E-Verify system to determine that current employees – even long-term employees – working on federal projects can legally work in the U.S.

Some important deadlines to keep in mind: 

• The employer must enroll in E-Verify, or re-enroll as a federal contractor, within 30 days after a federal contract is signed
• Within 90 days, the employer must begin verifying the status of new hires
• Within 90 days, the employer must check the work status of all current employees who will work on the federal project
• Any subcontractors hired must also meet the same deadlines 

Even a company that has  used E-Verify for many years must re-enroll once a federal contract is signed. “It’s very important that employers understand that they have to be identified and enrolled as a federal contractor,” says Cynthia Lange, an attorney with Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP.

This is a reversal in regulations, since in the past employers were prohibited from using E-Verify to determine the work status of any existing employees.

Business owners may be tempted to enroll in E-Verify immediately, but experts urge them to wait until a federal contract is signed. “Businesses that didn’t hold a new or current contract with the federal government will most likely have to re-enroll once a new contract is signed,” according Lange.

The mandatory use of E-Verify by federal contractors was first proposed by then-president George W. Bush in June 2008. In November 2008, the final regulations to enforce the executive order were issued. However, like a number of other executive orders, it was put on hold until President Obama took office.

President Barack Obama

The mandatory use of E-Verify by federal contractors was contested in court by a coalition of employer’s groups, including SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management.

E-Verify is a joint venture between the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and USICS, the Immigrations and Customs Service.

During July, both the U.S. House and Senate took measures that would require more employers to use E-Verify, including federal contractors and companies that benefit from federal stimulus spending.

The U.S. Senate passed an amendment to the 2010 Department of Homeland Security budget sponsored by Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, which will require federal contractors to use E-Verify, and extend that program for three more years.

According to Senator Sessions, this amendment will prevent illegal immigrants from being hired for construction projects funded by the federal stimulus packages. A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives.

The Society for Human Resource Management or SHRM has long opposed the mandatory use of E-Verify. SHRM argues that a biometric component such as fingerprints or retinal scan needs to be added to E-Verify. The problem is identity theft. Suppose a new employee presents documents for E-Verify as “John Turner”. E-Verify can check that John Turner can legally work in the U.S. However, there is no way for E-Verify to determine if the person presenting those documents is actually John Turner or not. SHRM and New York Senator Charles Schumer argue that E-Verify should not be used until the system can authenticate identity. Opponents claim that such a biometric system would be a violation of privacy.

While a number of states require employers to use E-Verify, federal contractors are still in limbo. In 2008, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that would have required federal contractors to implement E-Verify. However, it has been delayed and is currently being challenged in court by SHRM and other employer groups.

Nevertheless, many employers continue to voluntarily adopt the E-Verify system. E-Verify compares information provided by the (more…)

Under the new South Carolina Immigration law, employers must take a number of measures to ensure that the employees they are hiring may legally work in the U.S.

These steps include:

• Complying with all federal I-9 requirements
• Verifying the legal status of employees

The state recommends that employers use E-Verify, a free federal program, to verify the employee’s identity online in a few minutes.

This law goes into effect on July 1, 2009 for private employers with 100 or more employees. Private employers with fewer than 100 employees have until July 1, 2010 to comply.

E-Verify is a program available through the Department of Homeland Security. It detects fraudulent documents by comparing the employee’s information, including date of birth, social security number and gender, with a nationwide database and social security records and immigration documents.

A new feature of E-Verify will also permit the system to compare the photos on immigration documents with those in the DHS records. This will make it more difficult for an employee to counterfeit immigration documents such as green cards.

According to the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, employers can also verify identity by making sure that the employee has a South Carolina driver’s license or I.D. card. A driver’s license or I.D. card from another state with requirements as strict as those in South Carolina is also acceptable. The South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has determined that drivers’ licenses or identification cards issued by Alaska, Arizona, (more…)

The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) has successfully petitioned the Obama administration to delay implementation of a law requiring some employers to use E-Verify when checking on new employees’ immigration and work status.

SHRM’s director of government affairs, Mike Aitken, said the human resources professionals’ organization is hoping that the Obama team’s delay “signals an interest, on the part of the government, to re-evaluate the rule.” According to the rules approved under the Bush administration, contractors would be required to use E-Verify to insure that any employees on federal projects were legally allowed to work in the U.S.

The original date for plan compliance was January 1, 2009. The new deadline is May 21, 2009.

Mr. Aitken said the SHRM was concerned (more…)

A combination of efforts by President Obama’s administration and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), backed by the courts, has extended the deadline for implementation of new E-Verify regulations for federal contractors.

The original deadline was January 1, 2009. That has been delayed until May 21, 2009. As a result, federal contracts will have several additional weeks in which to comply with E-Verify.

Starting on May 21, any companies that enter into contracts with the federal government will be mandated to use E-Verify in order to double-check the immigration and legal work status of new employers.

A confluence of events led to the delay. For one, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel, had sent memos to all federal agencies urging them to delay the effective dates of regulations pushed through during the final days of the (more…)