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Three members of Congress introduced a new version of the Legal Workforce Act. If it passes, U.S. employers will be required to use E-Verify for new employees.

The legislation was sponsored by Congressman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (Republican, Virginia) and Congressman Ken Calvert (Republican, California).

What Is E-Verify?

E-Verify is an online system that confirms a person's eligibility to work in the United States. It checks Social Security Numbers against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. The program is said to confirm "99.8% of work-eligible employees" in less than two minutes.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency provides information about E-Verify on their website. It is said to be a fast, easy and free way for employers to verify that people are eligible to work in the United States. E-Verify is currently being used by more than 740,000 employers. Learn more about the E-Verify system.

About the Proposed Legislation

The Legal Workforce Act would require every employer in the United States to use E-Verify. Participation in the program would be enforced on an incremental basis:

• Employers with more than 10,000 employees would be required to start using E-Verify within six months.
• Employers with 500 to 9,999 employees would start within 12 months.
• Employers with 20 to 499 employees would start within 18 months.
• Employers with 19 or fewer employees would start within 24 months.

Employers can enroll in E-Verify on the USCIS website at any time.

What This Will Do If Passed

This bill will:

• Override any existing state laws about E-Verify.
• Eliminate the need for Form I-9.
• Establish penalties for employers that knowingly hire people who are not eligible to work in the U.S. or provide false information while using E-Verify.
• Ensure that employers are not penalized if they inadvertently, and through no fault of their own, hire someone who is not eligible for employment after receiving incorrect information from the E-Verify system.
• Permit people who legally work in America to lock their Social Security Number, thus preventing someone else from using it during a job search.
• Give employers the ability to verify eligibility for existing employees in a "nondiscriminatory manner."

How Does This Affect the Hiring and Background Screening Process?

If passed, the Legal Workforce Act will not have an impact on background screening. It will, however, require an important update to every employer's hiring process. After extending a conditional offer, employers may run background checks on their candidates to help make final hiring decisions. This law would add a step to that process.

After a candidate is hired, the employer would then run the person's Social Security Number through the E-Verify system. The results will show the employer whether or not the person is legally authorized to work in the United States.

Backgrounds Online watches for new laws that impact background screening and hiring in the U.S. We'll follow this story and post updates as warranted. Read our new blog entries each week for information about compliance-related topics, screening best practices and other useful topics.