Posts Tagged ‘E-verify’
Governor Jerry Brown Signs CA Bill Blocking E-Verify Mandates
Governor Brown has signed into law Bill 1236, the Employment Acceleration Act of 2011, which states that CA cities, counties and special districts cannot require an employer (other than a government agency) to use E-Verify to obtain a CA government contract or business license. The law also prohibits cities, counties and districts from requiring E-Verify as a penalty for violating licensing or other similar laws.
As stated in prior posts, E-Verify is a Federal program that allows employers and businesses to check the work authorization of their employees online for purposes of completing the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Vertification. CA employers are still free to voluntarily participate in E-Verify or do so as required for Federal contracts.
Tags: Bill 1236, E-verify, Employment Acceleration Act of 2011, Federal contracts, Governor Brown
Posted in Alerts, Politics/Current Events | Read More »
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Arizona Legal Workers Act
On Thursday, May 26, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Arizona Legal Workers Act, which threatens to revoke the business licenses of companies in Arizona that knowingly hire unauthorized immigrants. The law also forces Arizona businesses to participate in the “voluntary” pilot program known as E-Verify.
E-Verify is a Congressional pilot program that allows employers to check employee identity and employment authorization documents against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security databases. Participants are required to have an agreement with the Federal government and adhere to strict I-9 (employment verification) practices. To date, the program has only been mandatory for companies engaged in Federal contracts and subcontracts. However, Arizona’s law requires ALL employers to participate.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented in the decision, stating that the law “subjects employers to a patchwork of enforcement schemes similar to the one that Congress sought to displace when it enacted IRCA [Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986].”
Tags: Arizona Legal Workers Act, E-verify, Justice Sotomayor, U.S Supreme Court
Posted in Alerts, Politics/Current Events | Read More »
Anti-Fraud Enhancements Added to E-Verify
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expanded the E-Verify program to include U.S. passport photo matching, which allows employers participating in E-Verify to automatically check the validity and authenticity of all U.S. passports and passport cards presented for employment verification. The goal of this addition is to prevent and detect the use of fraudulent documents.
The E-Verify program allows employers and businesses to check the work authorization of their employees online for purposes of completing the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Vertification. Originally, the E-Verify system cross-checked background information in the DHS and Social Security databases. With the addition of passport photo matching, employers are now able to compare the data presented with Department of State records.
Enrollment in the E-Verify program is voluntary for most and mandatory for employers holding Federal contracts or Federal subcontracts.
Please don’t hesitate to contact our San Francisco Immigration Law Office if you have questions about the E-Verify program.
Tags: E-verify, employment eligibility, fraud, I-9, passport
Posted in Alerts, Employment Verification | Read More »
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, Federal Contractors Required to Use E-Verify
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, all federal contractors will be required to use E-Verify, the government database used to verify employment eligibility of workers. E-Verify is a database run jointly by the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). It compares work eligibility information collected by the employer against information in the SSA’s database in order to verify employment eligibility.
Contracts awarded after Sept. 8th will contain an E-Verify clause, which will require enrollment in E-Verify within 30 days of entering into the contract. E-verify must be used to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires, whether or not they are working on the contract, and to verify the employment eligibility of existing employees, if they will be working on the contract.
This new requirement will subject more employers to scrutiny by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the interior enforcement arm of DHS. In addition to increasing administrative costs to U.S. businesses during a recession, it will likely result in an increase in ICE audits.
Tags: Dept. of Homeland Security, E-verify, employment eligibility, federal contractors, immigration
Posted in Employment Verification | Read More »
