North Carolina Requires Employers with More Than 25 Employees to Enroll in E-Verify

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The North Carolina Legislature passed a bill that  requires all private employers with more  than 25 employees to use the federal online E-Verify program to verify the  employment authorization of newly hired employees.  The bill, HB 36, was passed on June 18, 2011, and was signed  into law by former Governor Beverly Perdue on June 23, 2011. E-Verify is a free internet-based system that  allows employers to determine employment authorization by checking an  employees documentation against Department of Homeland Security and Social  Security Administration databases. Employers enroll in E-Verify at https://e-verify.uscis.gov/enroll/.

This new E-Verify law required North Carolina counties and cities to  register and participate in E-Verify by October 1, 2011.  Private sector  employers’ participation in E-Verify is being phased in more slowly, according to the  employer’s size:

  • Employers with 500 or more employees were required  to participate by October 1, 2012;
  • Employers with 100 or more employees were required  to participate by January 1, 2013; and
  • Employers with 25 or more employees will be  required to participate by July 1, 2013.

Businesses will not be required to verify the  employment eligibility of current employees unless the employer has been awarded a federal contract on or after  September 8, 2009 that contains the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify  clause.

Civil penalties for violations of North  Carolina’s E-Verify law are assessed by the NC Commissioner of Labor and range  from $1,000 to $10,000.

The federal government has added E-Verify  Self-Check which permits an employee or prospective employee to check his or  her employment eligibility, just like an employer would when it uses E-Verify. E-Verify Self-Check also provides information  to the employee on how to correct any problems. The E-Verify Self-Check website is https://selfcheck.uscis.gov/SelfCheckUI/start.html.