Verify through E-Verify

As most employers know, the US government has long struggled with how best to ensure that employers hire only legal, documented workers. From the I-9 form to no-match letters from the Social Security Administration, officials have been waging a tough war against unauthorized employment, one which they’ve largely been losing. Enter E-verify, the governments new(ish) and largely voluntary online system for checking social security numbers against the Department of Homeland Security databases.

According to the DHS website, “E-Verify is free and voluntary, and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers.” The program’s most compelling selling point to date is that voluntary use of e-verify protects the employer against a later determination that the employee was not authorized to work. Effective January 15, 2009 E-verify won’t be voluntary any more, at least not for federal contractors. The general consensus seems to be that mandatory use for the rest of us is only a matter of time.