The rule’s effective date has been pushed back yet again, this time to September 8.

A regulation requiring federal contractors to use E-Verify was proposed by President Bush in June 2008 and scheduled to go into effect in January. Then, the Chamber of Commerce sued to block the rule, and President Obama moved the effective date back to give the new administration more time to review the reg.

It was then pushed back again — and again.

If the rule ever makes it into the books, it will apply to companies with contracts lasting more than 120 days, valued at more than $120,000 and involving work done in the United States.

Those companies not already using E-Verify will have to:

• enroll in the program within 30 days of being awarded the contract
• start verifying all new hires within 90 days of enrollment
• verify existing employees who are assigned to work on the contract, and
• continue using E-Verify for the duration of the contract.

The New Employee Verification Act, written by Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) and Sam Johnson (R-Texas), was introduced to the House on April 22.

If passed, it would require companies to sign up for the Electronic Employee Verification System, which would be based on the new hire reporting systems already used in each state to enforce child support payments. About 90% of employers already use their state’s new hire system, the bill’s backers said.

The electronic verification would replace the Form I-9.

The bill would also create a network of private, government certified worker authentication companies that would use biometric data like fingerprints to verify employment eligibility.

We’ll keep you posted on the bill’s movement.

In June 2008, President Bush issued an executive order requiring all federal contractors to verify new hires and existing employees assigned to government contracts through E-Verify. The rule was scheduled to take effect in January — until a coalition led by the Chamber of Commerce sued.

The feds pushed the effective date back to Feb. 20.  Then the Obama administration extended the delay to May 21 — and has just pushed the date back yet again to give the new administration time to review the rule. It’s now set to take effect June 30.

In the meantime, the Chamber of Commerce’s suit is still pending. We’ll keep you posted on how that turns out.

If it’s ever enacted, the rule will apply to companies with contracts lasting more than 120 days, valued at more than $120,000 and involving work done in the United States.

Those companies not already using E-Verify will have to:

• enroll in the program within 30 days of being awarded the contract
• start verifying all new hires within 90 days of enrollment
• verify existing employees who are assigned to work on the contract, and
• continue using E-Verify for the duration of the contract.

Though many states have made E-Verify mandatory for some or all employers, Illinois actually prohibited companies from using it — that is, until the law was challenged in court.

The law said employers could not use E-Verify until the federal government got the system working better. Right now, when employers attempt to verify a new hire’s work authorization, they either get a verification or a “temporary nonconfirmation notice” (TNC).

In the event of a nonconfirmation notice, the employee can pursue a secondary verification with the government to correct any mistakes. The government then has 10 days to issue a verification or a final nonconfirmation. Employees cannot be terminated until the final nonconfirmation is issued.

The Illinois legislature wanted the feds to be able to take care of 99% of TNCs within three days and made the program illegal until that happened.

But the feds sued, claiming Illinois’ prohibition violated the federal law authorizing E-Verify, which intended to make the program an option for all employers.

The court agreed, and the law was overturned.

Cite: United States v. Illinois

Based on how many times the system has been used so far this year, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) predicts E-Verify will be used to run more than 17 million queries in 2009. That would be an increase of 167% over last year.

If the projection is accurate, it would mean one out of every eight employees hired this year will be verified through E-Verify.

The USCIS didn’t explain why the numbers appear to be jumping so sharply, but the system has gotten a lot of use so far in 2009.

In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced that more than 100,000 employers had signed up for E-Verify. By the middle of February, another 10,000 had been added to the list.

Has your company used E-Verify? If not, do you ever plan on starting? Let us know in the comments section below.

The first was a requirement that all companies receiving federal bailout money use the system to verify their employees and new hires.

Supporters of the provision said it would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to create jobs filled by illegal immigrants.

Earlier versions of the bill also included a five-year extension of the funding for E-Verify. The program is set to expire on March 6 unless Congress votes to extend it.

Though that provision was dropped from the stimulus bill, the program’s supporters will most likely push to attach an extension to other pieces of legislation. We’ll keep you posted.

A new regulation was recently enacted requiring companies with federal contracts to verify employees using the federal government’s E-Verify system. However, the rule was delayed from taking effect when a coalition of business groups sued, claiming the reg was illegal.

It was set to take effect on Feb. 20, depending on the outcome of the court case.

But an order from the new presidential administration has pushed the effective date back further to May 21, allowing the White House to review the pending regulation.

Of course, that effective date still depends on the outcome of the pending court case.

A rule issued by the federal government requiring many employers to use the E-Verify employment verification system is scheduled to take effect on January 15. But a pending lawsuit claims the rule is against the law.

The rule, issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will require most employers with federal contracts to use E-Verify for new hires, as well as current employees assigned to work on new contracts.

Covered employees included those with contracts valued at more than $120,000, lasting longer than 120 days and involving work done in the U.S.

A coalition of business groups, including the Society for Human Resource Management and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed a lawsuit at the end of last month to block the regulation. They claim E-Verify was enacted as a strictly voluntary program, and that requiring companies to use it violates the law Congress passed to authorize it.

We’ll keep you posted on the outcome of the suit. For now, though, the rule’s effective date has been pushed back to Feb. 20.

State mandates

E-Verify is already mandatory for some or all employers in 11 states:  Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah.

The laws vary from state to state: Some only apply to companies that contract with the state government, while the mandates in Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri and South Carolina apply to all companies.

Arizona’s rule was recently challenged by businesses and immigration advocacy groups, but it was upheld in court.

Will E-Verify last?

Meanwhile, the future of the E-Verify program itself is uncertain.

Funding was set to expire last November, before Congress extended it until March 6. That was after a five-year extension was passed by a wide margin in the House of Representatives but failed to make it through the Senate.

President-elect Obama has expressed support for E-Verify. We’ll keep you posted on whether that translates into another extension for the program.

The new rule applies to companies with contracts lasting more than 120 days, valued at more than $120,000 and involving work done in the United States.

Those companies not already using E-Verify will have to:

• enroll in the program within 30 days of being awarded the contract
• start verifying all new hires within 90 days of enrollment
• verify existing employees who are assigned to work on the contract, and
• continue using E-Verify for the duration of the contract.

The initiative was set to expire in November, unless Congress approved an extension. E-Verify’s supporters called for ten more years; the House of Representatives recently passed a bill giving it five.

The Senate has yet to vote on a plan for the long term, but a law has been passed to keep things going at least until March of ’09 so the issue can be settled without interruption.

We’ll keep you posted on E-Verify’s long-term fate.