|
|
Greetings!
There's been a great deal of activity in the last month concerning E-Verify, FAR and other worksite compliance and enforcement news. This special "In Focus" news alert is provided to keep you up to date with information as its released that we know you require in your day-to-day decision making concerning Employer Compliance issues. Call us if you have immediate concerns and wish to retain our services. Our Compliance Unit is ready to assist and is up to speed on I-9, E-Verify, H-1B and other compliance issues.
Leslie Davis
Managing Director |
|
|
 DHS Wins E-Verify Federal Contractor Lawsuit
The US District Court for the District of Maryland upheld the E-Verify Federal Contractor Rule and cleared the way for DHS to implement a regulation requiring certain federal contractors and subcontractors to use E-Verify for all new hires and existing employees working on a federal contract. The rule is scheduled to go into effect September 8, 2009. Upon implementation, contractors will have additional time, in most instances 90-120 days, to enroll and start using E-Verify.
The rule directs government contracting officers to include a clause in certain federal contracts requiring contractors to use the E-Verify program to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires, as well as existing employees who work on the federal contract. The E-Verify requirement applies to federal contracts with a performance period longer than 120 days and a value over $100,000. Service or construction subcontracts of a covered contract would also be required to include the E-Verify clause, if the value of the subcontract is over $3,000. |
|
 LA County Considers Mandatory E-Verify for Contractors
August 25, 2009
_____
Today, LA County supervisors voted to explore requiring local contractors to participate in E-Verify as a condition of doing business with the county. According to the motion, the Board will review the E-Verify system and report back in two weeks with their findings and recommendations.
This could be huge for Los Angeles, as it's one of the largest communities in the nation, consisting of 88 cities and 10 million residents (as of July 2008). Most of the cities contract with the County to provide a wide array of municipal services.
The State of California, on the other hand, it taking some heat from the legislators who question just how effective E-Verify really is, and they have put forth the AB 1288 Bill that would prohibit the state, city, county and special districts from requiring employers to use E-Verify as a condition of being awarded a government contract. The bill has passed the Senate and now moves back to the Assembly. Presently, E-Verify is a voluntary program for California employers but happens to have the 2nd highest enrollment of employers at 10,476 - Arizona leads with approximately 31,000. |
|
 New ICE Chief will Systematically Audit More Employers
_____
Our Blog Posting
In a Wall Street Journal article from August 18th, the new ICE Chief, John Morton, said that the agency is set to increase the number of companies it will audit and systematically impose fines on violators. Violations could also lead to criminal charges, he said.
On July 1, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced an audit of employers to verify whether their employees were eligible to work. Mr. Morton said that 654 companies are currently being audited and that many more employers will be notified soon that they also will be under scrutiny by the government.
"You are going to see audits regularly and on a larger scale," Mr. Morton said during a two-day visit to southern California, his first since being appointed four months ago. "You will see the resuscitation of...civil fines." |
| New I-9 Form |
USCIS posted a new version of the Form with a revised date of 08/07/2009 on its website. As we previously reported, there have been no new changes to the form, other than the revision and expiration dates. USCIS further indicated that employers are free to use either this version or the prior version (Rev. 02/02/2009) until further notice.
We link to the I-9 Portal | |
|
Immigration Solutions is closely following implementation of the federal contractor E-Verify rule and will issue additional News Alerts and Blog postings which you can sign up to receive on our website as the projected implementation date nears. If you have any questions about this alert or about employer compliance generally, please contact our office. | |
|
