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
Showing posts with label e-verify mandate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label e-verify mandate. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
To E-Verify or Not to E-Verify -- What is the Law?
There is some confusion among federal contractors as to whether they are now mandated to use a government-run electronic database(E-Verify) to check the employment eligibility of their employees who work on government contracts.
(To learn more about E-Verify visit: http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm)
A sentence on the Department of Homeland Security’s website reads: “E-Verify is a voluntary program for all employers, with the exception of federal contractors.”
On June 9, 2008, President Bush amended an Executive Order (EO) directing all federal agencies to require government contractors to use an electronic system to verify each worker’s employment eligibility – however, that order is not final.
At this point in time, the EO remains in the rulemaking process – that is, a notice of proposed rulemaking has been issued. The public (by law) is given 60 days to comment on the proposed rule. Coincidentally, the comment period closed on August 11, 2008, and SBE Council provided feedback with respect to the proposed rule. We commented that the E-Verify mandate (as proposed) will be burdensome, confusing and costly for small government contractors.
You may read SBE Council’s comments at:
http://www.sbecouncil.org/legaction/display.cfm?ID=2823
So, E-Verify for government contractors is not yet a requirement as the rule governing how the program will work has not been finalized! DHS is way ahead of how the system (the regulatory process) is supposed to work.
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
(To learn more about E-Verify visit: http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm)
A sentence on the Department of Homeland Security’s website reads: “E-Verify is a voluntary program for all employers, with the exception of federal contractors.”
On June 9, 2008, President Bush amended an Executive Order (EO) directing all federal agencies to require government contractors to use an electronic system to verify each worker’s employment eligibility – however, that order is not final.
At this point in time, the EO remains in the rulemaking process – that is, a notice of proposed rulemaking has been issued. The public (by law) is given 60 days to comment on the proposed rule. Coincidentally, the comment period closed on August 11, 2008, and SBE Council provided feedback with respect to the proposed rule. We commented that the E-Verify mandate (as proposed) will be burdensome, confusing and costly for small government contractors.
You may read SBE Council’s comments at:
http://www.sbecouncil.org/legaction/display.cfm?ID=2823
So, E-Verify for government contractors is not yet a requirement as the rule governing how the program will work has not been finalized! DHS is way ahead of how the system (the regulatory process) is supposed to work.
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
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