The United States is currently experiencing the longest government shutdown in U.S. History. One of the several effects of this shutdown is the inability to access E-Verify accounts.
E-Verify is a system allowing employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. Since the government shutdown has made E-Verify unavailable, employers are currently prevented from enrolling in the program, creating new cases, viewing cases, or taking action on cases in the E-Verify system. This affects an employer’s ability to complete the hiring process during the shutdown.
What happens now?
- Ordinarily, employers have three days after an employee begins work to create a case in the E-Verify system. With E-Verify down, this three-day requirement is suspended until E-Verify is back in commission.
- For employees who received a Tentative Nonconfirmation (“TNC”) (meaning that your records did not match the records available to DHS or SSA), the time allowed to resolve the TNC will be extended. The days for which E-Verify was unavailable will not count towards the time requirements.
Even though the government is shutdown, employer’s may still have many hiring needs and are still required to complete I-9s for all new hires. As such, careful documentation of new hires during the shutdown is important in order to quickly and effectively input those cases into E-Verify when it is available again.
If you have any questions regarding your obligations during and after the government shutdown, please contact an employment law attorney at Mesch Clark Rothschild.
