President Bush has signed an Executive Order requiring all federal contractors, as a condition of all future federal contracts, to agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system. The Order is not automatically effective; new rules must be written and published for public comment.
The Executive Order requires that an employment verification system must be used 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. In response to the Order, the Department of Homeland Security immediately designated the federal E-Verify program, operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as "the" electronic employment eligibility verification system to be used by effected employers. E-Verify is a free Internet-based system through which enrolled employers confirm the legal status of all new hires.
Note that the Order greatly expands the reach of E-Verify, which currently allows employers to use the system only for new hires, and forbids its use as to incumbent employees. It remains to be seen how this aspect of the President's plan will work.
As noted, this new requirement will not take effect until the appropriate regulations have been revised. The responsible agencies have already sent a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to the Federal Register soliciting public comment on the proposed regulatory changes. Comments will be accepted for 60 days. Miller & Martin will keep you apprised of when this new rule may become effective.
The Executive Order may be viewed in its entirety at http://www.whitehouse.gov/.
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