Love it or hate it, E-Verify is sticking around for at least another three years.
E-Verify is the online federal system that checks information from an employee’s Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) against records from the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to verify that they are eligible to work in the United States. While some legislators have tried to require all employers to use it to check the eligibility of their employees, others have blasted the system for not being accurate because it can only verify that the information on the I-9 matches what is in the databases, not that the person is who they say they are.
President Obama recently signed a bill reauthorizing E-Verify through September 30, 2015. E-Verify is still voluntary for most employers, but it is required for federal contractors and in certain states and localities.
So why should you, as a recruiter, be concerned? Well, if you run your own back-office and you are placing contractors for which E-Verify is required, you must comply with E-Verify. Even if it is not required by law for the contractors you place, more and more client companies are requiring it.
If you are going to run contractors through E-Verify, keep the following things in mind:
- You must be trained and certified to use the system. If there are changes to the system after you have been certified, E-Verify may require you to go through a refresher course and testing.
- Before you can E-Verify any contractor, you MUST have a complete I-9. On the first day of work, make sure you have the contractors complete Section 1. Then you must complete Section 2 within three days of their start date after you have viewed the contractor’s “acceptable documents.”
- You must run contractors through E-Verify within three days of their start date. For example, if the contractor starts on Monday, you must E-Verify no later than Thursday.
- If you receive a Tentative Nonconfirmation, which means the system could not verify the contractor’s employment eligibility, you should not immediately terminate. You must give the employee the opportunity to contest the result.
- To avoid getting a Tentative Nonconfirmation, be sure to type in all the information carefully and check over your work before submitting. The U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services website has additional Tips to Prevent a Tentative Nonconfirmation.
And remember, just because you outsource your contract staffing back-office does not mean you don’t have to worry about E-Verify. If the contractors you place are required to be run through E-Verify or you have clients who require the use of the system, you will want to be sure that your back-office is E-Verify compliant.
FoxHire is trained and certified in E-Verify. We have been running all contractors through the system since January 2010, so if you use our back-office to place your contractors, you will automatically be E-Verify compliant. Please call us at (330) 454-3508 for more information.
