June 6, 2008

Federal Contractors Will Be Required to Use E-Verify

On June 6, 2008, President Bush issued an Executive Order requiring contractors to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system, as designated by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to verify the employment eligibility of all persons hired during the contract term and all persons performing work within the United States on the federal contract. The E-Verify system was designated as the selected system by DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. A proposed rule implementing the executive order was published in the Federal Register on June 12. A 60-day comment period on the proposed regulations will follow. Both the rule and the order require that employers who enter into covered federal contracts use the E-Verify system for all new hires once the contract begins and for all employees both new and current, who perform work on the contract.

For more information on the required use of E-Verify, please refer to our GT Alert: http://www2.gtlaw.com/pub/alerts/2008/0600c.pdf, and our GT Newsflash: http://www2.gtlaw.com/practices/immigration/news/2008/06/24.htm.