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More States Legislating E-Verify Participation

At the beginning of July this year, several states enacted new laws impacting state employment eligibility verification. How does it affect you? See below how these state-specific laws for verifying employment authorizations add to an employer's obligation under federal law. Keep in mind that these additions are not substitutes for the completion of Form I-9, which is a federal requirement.

Georgia - Effective July 1, any employer, regardless of size, that has a contract with the state of Georgia for the physical performance of services within the state must register and participate in the federal E-Verify employment eligibility verification system to confirm the employment authorization of all newly hired employees. Subcontractors of covered state contracts must also participate in E-Verify. State contractors and subcontractors for services with more than 500 employees have been required to use E-Verify since July 1, 2007, as have those with more than 99 employees since July 1, 2008.

Mississippi- Effective July 1, all private employers with 100 or more employees must register and participate in E-Verify to confirm the work eligibility of all newly hired employees. The E-Verify requirement will apply to employers with 30 to 99 employees beginning July 1, 2010 and employers with less than 30 employees as of July 1, 2011. Employers that do not use E-Verify by the applicable effective date may:

• Have any existing state contract terminated and become ineligible for public contracts for three years;
• Have any license, permit, or certificate allowing the employer to do business in Mississippi suspended for a period of one year, or;
• Both. Mississippi also penalizes working without authorization as a felony, punishable by a minimum of one year in prison, a fine of not less than $1,000, or both.

South Carolina - Effective July 1, all employers with 100 or more employees must either participate in E-Verify or only hire employees who possess or qualify for a South Carolina driver's license or possess another state license with similarly strict requirements. Employers that choose to use E-Verify will be entitled to a presumption of compliance with all of provisions of South Carolina's immigration laws; employers that only use the driver's license option will not benefit from that presumption. Covered employers seeking to enter into a public contract for the physical performance of services with an annual value in excess of $25,000 (or $15,000 if the contract is with a political subdivision of the state) are required to certify compliance with the law.

South Carolina's E-Verify/Driver's License law will take effect for all employers, regardless of size, on July 1, 2010.Employers that fail to comply with South Carolina's E-Verify/Driver's License law may be fined up to $1,000. In addition, on July 1 the law will create an implied, no-fee, no-application "employment license" for every employer doing business in South Carolina. If an employer is found to have employed unauthorized workers, then that implied employment license may be suspended for a period between 10 and 30 days.

Subsequent violations may lead to longer suspensions or a revocation of the implied employment license for at least five years. An employer may not employ a person unless its employment license is in effect and not suspended or revoked. Employers that have their implied employment license suspended must also pay a "reinstatement fee" that is equal to the cost of investigating and enforcing the matter that led to the suspension.

Utah - Effective July 1, state contractors for the physical performance of services in Utah must register and participate in either E-Verify or the Social Security Administration's Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) to verify the work eligibility of all newly hired employees.

Nebraska recently enacted a law that will require state contractors and subcontractors for the physical performance of services to register and participate in E-Verify to verify the work eligibility of all newly hired employees physically performing services within Nebraska. The new law will take effect on October 1, 2009, but will not apply to state contracts awarded prior to October 1, 2009.

Questions? If you have further questions about your state, contact your Corporate Screening account representative today.

industry news:

What To Do About Those SSA "No-Match" Correction Requests

There has been plenty written about the Social Security Administration's (SSA) "no-match" letters and what employers should do in light of safe harbor regulations that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has tried to implement for the past two years. What hasn't been written about is handling no-match correction requests issued to employers reporting wages online to the SSA.

This is significant because the DHS officials believe that an employer's failure to address a no-match resulting from the form no-match letter constitutes knowledge that the employee is not authorized to work, which is sufficient to support civil and criminal action against the employer and those employees - like senior managers or HR staff - who failed to respond. To this point there has been no direction about how to handle SSA correction requests, leaving HR professionals to come up with their own solutions.

Next time this happens to you, consider the following:

• Correct any clerical errors.
• Ask the employee to correct the problem. Include the standard notice in pay envelopes for current employees or via US certified mail to current or former employees. Track those employees and keep copies of the notice in their employee payroll file. Send follow-up notices if you've not heard back in 30 days. Inform current employees that they face termination if they do not correct this problem.
• Update your records with the new SSA. There are several reasonable explanations for a new SSA, such as identity theft or domestic violence. Make sure that you file a W-2c online with the correct information so that your employee's wages are properly credited. If the employee has a new SSN, they must complete a new Form I-9, or amend the outdated information on the old Form I-9 and initial and date the changes.

Make sure you verify why there is a new name or SSN and the employee's explanation of this change. If there is a complete name change or if they have an entirely new SSN, the employer may be on notice that the employee committed a fraud by originally using a false SSN.

By keeping these suggested actions in mind, HR professionals will mitigate the risk of both civil and criminal liability from different governmental agencies involved with the enforcement of immigration laws or tax information.

Questions? Contact Corporate Screening Support at 800-229-8606 and select option 3, or contact your Account Representative.

Product News:

Coming Soon: Corporate Screening Launching ImmuniTrax

VerifyStudents' Immunization & Health Forms Tracking Service

How can your school effectively ensure compliance with a myriad of immunization & health form requirements? Corporate Screening is proud to announce a new solution to this problem, which is ImmuniTrax - an exciting enhancement to our existing VerifyStudents service, that allows you to track a student's immunization history.

Contact us to discover an online solution through our VerifyStudents website that will not only offer the existing reliable background checks needed by health career students for their clinical rotations, but also provide the immunization and health form tracking mandated by medical facilities.

Compliance Without Compromise Colleges and universities assume immediate liability for the health of their students. We've pioneered a new way for institutions to track and fulfill student vaccination and health form requirements online. With ImmuniTrax we:

• Create efficiency
• Reduce cost
• Ensure compliance with campus, hospital and state health regulations

Our service will easily and affordably move your organization away from paper forms to a customized web-based solution.

ImmuniTrax is safe and secure, exceeding HIPAA and FERPA requirements.

Questions? Please contact your Corporate Screening Account Representative directly or email info@CorporateScreening.com with the word "ImmuniTrax" in the header.

CS News:

Corporate Screening Achieves Safe Harbor Recertification

Corporate Screening has achieved Safe Harbor Recertification from the United States Department of Commerce, which signifies that Corporate Screening's international background screening services are in compliance with the data protection principles set forth by the European Union.

"Our Safe Harbor Recertification means that we can continue to provide our clients with access to background information on European job candidates," said Dennis Drellishak, President of Corporate Screening. "We are well-positioned to serve our clients in this respect as the demand for international talent has increased."

The United States Department of Commerce and the European Commission developed the Safe Harbor framework in order to allow for the safe transfer of personal data from European countries to the United States. Safe Harbor bridges the gap between the different approaches to privacy adopted by the European Union and the United States.