A Presidential Executive Order issued last year requires contractors who perform work for the federal government to verify their employees' eligibility to legally work in the United States using the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' E-Verify system. The new rule was originally scheduled to take effect on January 15, 2009. However, implementation of the rule has been delayed until May 21, 2009.
E-Verify
E-Verify is a free Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their existing employees and new hires. The federal government says that the new rule virtually eliminates Social Security mismatch letters, improves the accuracy of wage and tax reporting, protects jobs for authorized U.S. workers and helps employers maintain a legal workforce.
Under the new rule, contractors awarded a prime federal contract must use E-Verify on projects with a period of performance longer than 120 days and a value above $100,000. The requirement to use E-Verify also applies to subcontracts in situations where the prime contract contains the E-Verify requirement and the subcontract for services or construction has a value greater than $3,000. Any company awarded an applicable federal government contract will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date and begin using the system to ensure their employees’ legal status.
During fiscal year 2008, employers participating voluntarily in E-Verify made more than 6.6 million employment verification inquiries. Less than 4% of the individuals whose information was submitted to E-Verify were found to be ineligible to work legally in the U.S. Individuals who are not immediately cleared by E-Verify have the opportunity to correct their government records in order to confirm their work eligibility.
The use of the E-Verify system is under review by the current administration. At press time, no changes have been announced.
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For additional information on the issues discussed,
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Ken
Hedlund,
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