Beginning January 15, 2009, federal government contractors and subcontractors are required to use the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' E-Verify system to verify their employees' eligibility to legally work in the United States. In comments submitted in mid-August on the proposed rule, SBE Council outlined concerns about the then-proposed requirement's impact on small business contractors, namely the cost of the new mandate as well its vagueness related to contractor liability for subcontractor compliance, questions about what employees need to be run through e-verify, and other areas that seemed to create more questions than answers. Of course, it is well documented that e-verify is not error-free, which can create additional headaches and legal issues for business contractors.
As SBE Council detailed in the comments to the General Services Administration: "Already, doing business within the federal procurement space is quite daunting, complex and expensive for small business contractors. The proposed rule - which would mandate that government contractors utilize the federal E-Verify system to check employment eligibility of workers ‘assigned to the contract' - would only add to existing burdens and barriers that small businesses face in accessing, winning and managing government contracts."
The business community has consistently expressed its concerns about the added costs, complexity, and general vagueness of the requirement, and e-verify in general. Questions also remain concerning the legality of the regulation's scope as the original legislation creating the voluntary e-verify pilot program (in 1996) does not mandate that businesses use the system (nor did it intend to). SBE Council is supporting the legal challenge to the new rule, which is being led by several business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Associated Builders and Contractors, and the Society for Human Resource Management.
President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 12989 on June 6, 2008, which directed federal government agencies to require that contractors agree to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their employees. You can read frequently asked questions about this new rule by following this link:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=cb2a535e0869d110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=75bce2e261405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD.
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
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