E-Verify Solutions

E-Verify is an online system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). Participating employers can check the work status of new hires online by comparing information from an employee's I-9 form against SSA and DHS databases. Although the program is still voluntary in most states, several states have passed laws mandating employers to participate in E-Verify.

The Administration has also made E-Verify mandatory for all new federal contracts, and is taking additional measures to encourage all employers to participate. As of June 9, 2008, President George W. Bush issued an Executive Order directing all federal departments and agencies to require contractors, as a condition of each future federal contract, to agree to use an electronic system to verify workers' employment eligibility. In response to this Executive Order, Secretary Michael Chertoff designated E-Verify as the system of choice.

Employer Requirements

When using E-Verify to verify the employment eligibility of your newly hired employees, you must follow these requirements:

• You must print the English and Spanish versions of the E-Verify Participation and the Right to Work posters. They must be displayed in plain view at your hiring site(s) to inform prospective employees that your company is participating in the E-Verify Employment Verification Program.
• Employees must be newly hired with a completed Employment Eligibility Verification DHS Form I-9 (referred to hereafter as Form I-9) before you can use E-Verify to initiate queries about the employees for your company.
• Form I-9 requirements remain the same except that all "List B" identity documents must bear a photograph.
• You must make verification inquiries for your newly hired employees within three Federal Government workdays of when they were hired.
• You may not verify newly hired employees selectively, and must follow E-Verify procedures for all new hires while your company is participating.
• You may not request that the employee use certain documentation for Form I-9 or E-Verify purposes.
• You may not use E-Verify to discriminate against any job applicant or new hire on the basis of his or her national origin, citizenship, or immigration status.
• You may not use the system to pre-screen applicants for employment.
• You may not go back to check employment eligibility for employees hired before your company signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).
• You may not use the system to re-verify employment authorization.
• You must provide your employees with an opportunity to contest a Tentative Nonconfirmation.
• You cannot take any adverse action against an employee based upon E-Verify unless the program issues a final nonconfirmation.

Help with E-Verify

D.Ray Mantle assists employers in evaluating the benefits and risks of E-Verify and provides integrated compliance solutions to handle I-9 and E-Verify needs. The I-9 electronic compliance system's seamless E-Verify technology allows employers to simultaneously automate their I-9 creation and tracking while complying with state and federal requirements.

By using an integrated system, employers will not even have to interface with the Department of Homeland Security website and can save between 6 to 20 hours in tutorials and mastery tests that DHS requires if you are enrolling directly with the E-Verify program. The system also eliminates duplicate data entry into E-Verify site each time a new employee/re-hire is done, saving the employer time and resources.

Contact our office to see how your organization can benefit from an electronic I-9 and E-Verify solution.