E-Verify Today! How do you comply after the Government Shutdown?

Do you have questions on what to do now that the federal government shutdown is over? You are not alone! The government shut down started merely as a debate that quickly grew into a ransom demand by the republicans. It is important to recgonize that the republican agenda was to defund obama care by means of a government shutdown. A government shut down that felt like congress taking a vacation for two weeks, and americans looking for answers to problems that are far from Obama Care. VeriFirst's agenda is not to go political, but to help human resource professionals to seek answers for questions regarding the Form I-9, and E-Verify responsibilities. VeriFirst Background Screening (a designated agent for E-Verify) is here to help.

First, and foremost, the government shutdown did not exempt emloyers from full-filling there I-9 form requirements. All employers must complete and retain a Form I-9 for every person hired to work for pay in the United States during, and after the shutdown. E-verify is a different subject matter all together.

During the government shutdown E-verify was unable to receive new cases or to work on Tentative Nonconfirmations, SSA Final Nonconfirmation, and DHS cases. Among conversations with VeriFirst clients, the most common question's were. How do employer's comply with the Three-Day Rule? What do employers do if an employee received a Tentative Non-Confirmation (TNC)? What do employers do if an employee received an SSA Final Nonconfirmation (FNC) or DHS No Show result. E-verify has responded to this question's with their re-opening of E-Verify on October 17, 2013.

OFFICIAL E-VERIFY RESPONSE

Employees who received a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC): If an employee had a TNC referred between September 17, 2013 and September 30, 2013 and was not able to resolve the TNC due to the federal government shutdown, add 12 federal business days to the date printed on the ‘Referral Letter’ or ‘Referral Date Confirmation.’ Employees have until this new date to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve their cases. If you have an employee who decided to contest his or her TNC while E-Verify was unavailable, you should now initiate the referral process in E-Verify. Employers may not take any adverse action against an employee because of a TNC.

Employees who received a SSA Final Nonconfirmation (FNC) or DHS No Show result: If an employee received a Final Nonconfirmation (FNC) or No Show because of the federal government shutdown, please close the case and select “The employee continues to work for the employer after receiving a Final Nonconfirmation result,” or “The employee continues to work for the employer after receiving a No Show result.” The employer must then enter a new case in E-Verify for that employee. These steps are necessary to ensure the employee is afforded the opportunity to timely contest and resolve the Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) that led to the FNC result.

Creating Cases: Three-Day Rule: You must create an E-Verify case for each employee hired during or otherwise affected by the shutdown by November 5, 2013. If you are prompted to provide a reason why the case is late (i.e., does not conform to the three-day rule), select ‘Other’ from the drop-down list of reasons and enter ‘federal government shutdown’ in the field. 

Federal Contractor Deadlines: During the federal government shutdown, federal contractors could not enroll or use E-Verify as required by the federal contractor rule. If your organization missed a deadline because E-Verify was unavailable or if it has an upcoming deadline for complying with the federal contractor rule, please follow the instructions above and notify your contracting officer of these instructions.

VeriFirst Background Screening knows the struggles of dealing with employee I-9 Form's, and remembering to verify the employer's eligibility to work through the E-Verify program within 3 business days from when an employe starts work for pay. VeriFirst has designed the Compliance Cloud that formalizes and centralizes employer compliance with the FCRA, Form I-9,and E-Verify Elegibility. 

Learn more by visiting the link below.