Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland upheld the E-Verify Rederal Contractor Rule which will require certain federal contractors and subcontractors to use E-Verify for all new hires and as well as existing employees working on a federal contract.
The rule will go into effect on September 8, 2009 and applies to prime federal contracts with a period of performance longer than 120 days and a value above the simplified acquisition threshold ($100,000) as well as subcontracts that flow from those prime contracts where the subcontract for services or for construction has a value in excess of $3,000.
Federal contractors who have not previously enrolled in E-Verify must do so within 30 days after being awarded a covered contract and then begin using E-Verify to verify all new hires and current employees assigned to the covered contract within 90 days from the date of E-Verify enrollment. Current E-Verify users will have 90 days after being awarded a covered contract to initiate verification. The rule also requires that indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts that will extend at least six months past the implementation date need to be amended, on a bilateral basis, to include the E-Verify requirement.
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Implementation of this rule will result in a host of compliance issues for federal contractors. With the effective date less than 2 weeks away, it’s critical for businesses to take steps as soon as possible to prepare for compliance so that they may maintain existing federal contracts and remain competitive in bids for new business with the government in the future. This means that not only should businesses sign up for and become familiar with E-Verify, but also should review their current I-9 verification process and audit their I-9s to ensure total employment verification compliance.
