The Department of Homeland Security recently made it clear what liability companies will face when undocumented hires pass through the E-Verify authorization procedure.

One concern with the federal system is the possibility that an undocumented worker may have stolen another person’s name and social security number. In those cases, the system won’t see any problem — it’ll just verify that the name and SSN match.

Will employers be held liable if such an employee is hired?

No, according to the DHS. Companies only get fined when they knowingly violate immigration laws, said Homeland Security Secretary Micheal Chertoff in a recent presentation at the Brookings Institute.

If a company is raided and it turns out E-Verify was properly used, the company won’t be fined.

Said Chertoff: “If you operate in good faith, and you use that system, even if it turns out that someone has managed to gain the system by stealing a real identity, you’re not going to get fined or punished.”

Tags: Department of Homeland Security, DHS, e-verify