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What is E-Verify?

E-Verify is an Internet-based system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows employers to electronically verify an employee's eligibility to work in the United States. The E-Verify system compares information from an employee's Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 (I-9 Form) to information contained in DHS and SSA databases.

The Law

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) mandates that U.S. employers verify the employment eligibility status of newly-hired employees. IRCA made it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire or continue to employ unauthorized workers. The law requires new employees to establish their work authorization by completing the I-9 Form.

On June 6, 2008, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13465 requiring certain federal contractors to use E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of employees assigned to work on federal contracts. Federal regulations implementing this executive order took effect in September 2009. The regulations apply to federal contracts in excess of $100,000 and federal subcontracts in excess of $3,000 which contain the Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR) E-Verify clause (see FAR § 52.222–54).

As a federal contractor, Carnegie Mellon is required to use E-Verify to verify the employment eligibility of all employees assigned to work on federal contracts containing the FAR E-Verify clause. Compliance with E-Verify requires the cooperation of all departments receiving federal contracts and all faculty and staff assigned to work on federal contracts. Failure to comply with E-Verify regulations may jeopardize the university's ability to receive federal contract funds in the future.

Who is Affected?

• Existing employees including faculty, staff, student workers, and any other employees who perform substantial duties on a covered federal contract must complete a new I-9 Form and have the information from that form processed through E-Verify.
• Newly-hired employees who are assigned to work on covered federal contracts must also have the information from their I-9 Form processed through E-Verify.
• Principal Investigators and Department Business Managers must ensure that all employees assigned to work on covered federal contracts initiate the E-Verify process within the applicable deadlines.

Timeframes to Initiate E-Verify

Exemptions from E-Verify

The following categories of employees are exempt from E-Verify:

• Employees who have previously completed E-Verify while working at Carnegie Mellon (excluding employees who terminate employment at Carnegie Mellon and return later).
• Employees who were hired by Carnegie Mellon on or before November 6, 1986 and who have been continuously employed by Carnegie Mellon since then.
• Security Clearance Exception: Employees who have an active confidential, secret, or top secret security clearance in accordance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual or Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 are exempt from E-Verify. (Note: These employees will still have to complete E-Verify when their security clearance expires).

How E-Verify Works at Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂë

Information for Principal Investigators & Research Administrators

The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) reviews all contracts that the university receives to check for the FAR E-Verify clause. When an E-Verify contract is received, OSP will contact the principal investigator and the applicable department business manager to explain the E-Verify regulations and to help identify any employees assigned to work on the contract. The coversheet for new awards sent from OSP to the department business manager will clearly indicate whether the award is subject to E-Verify regulations. OSP will also provide the principal investigator and the department business manager with a copy of Instructions for Assigning Employees to Work on an E-Verify Award [pdf].

Award setup within Oracle Financials will proceed as usual, except that the award number for all new E-Verify awards will contain a standard prefix to identify the award as an E-Verify award. The standard prefix that will be used is ‘199xxxxx’. Furthermore, a descriptive flexfield will be used on the award management form within Oracle to indicate that the award is subject to E-Verify.

Department business managers must work with the principal investigator to identify all employees assigned to work on the contract. Throughout the period of performance on the contract, as additional employees are assigned to work on the contract, each employee must complete E-Verify. It is extremely important that employees assigned to work on covered contracts initiate E-Verify within the prescribed timeframes. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator and the department business manager to identify individuals assigned to work on covered contracts.

• Existing employees assigned to work on an E-Verify contract must complete a new I-9 Form and initiate E-Verify within the later of:
  • 90 days of the date of the contract award (i.e. the start date of the contract); or
  • 30 days of being assigned work on the contract.
• Newly-hired employees assigned to work on an E-Verify contract must complete an I-9 Form and initiate E-Verify within three days of being hired.

Once an employee working on an E-Verify award is identified, the principal investigator or the department business manager should provide that employee with Instructions for Individuals Newly Assigned to an E-Verify Award [pdf] and an E-Verify I-9 Processing Request Form [pdf].  The employee must then visit the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center to complete a new I-9 Form. The Service Center will provide the employee with a written confirmation that the employee has completed a new I-9 Form for entry into the E-Verify system. The employee should return this confirmation to the department business manager and a copy should be placed in the employee's personnel file.

In order to ensure that all employees charging to E-Verify awards have initiated E-Verify, the Labor Distribution Schedule deadline will be different for E-Verify awards. The month-end deadline for E-Verify awards will be the 23rd of each month. After this deadline, schedule lines within Oracle Labor Distribution will be locked in so that E-Verify awards cannot be used for scheduling purposes. This will allow the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center to confirm that all employees charging to the award have initiated E-Verify.

If a schedule line needs to be created using an E-Verify award and the award has been locked, users must contact the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center. Once it is confirmed that the employee to be added has initiated E-Verify, the Service Center will temporarily unlock the award.

Employees who previously completed E-Verify at Carnegie Mellon do not need to go through the system again. Department business managers may check an employee's E-Verify status through Workday. Once an employee is accessed, one of three statuses will be displayed. If the E-Verify status is blank, it indicates the employee has not been processed through E-Verify and should not work on a contract subject to E-Verify until the employee reports to Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center and provides evidence they completed an E-Verify I-9 Form. If the status is I—Initiated, the employee was or is in the process of having his/her I-9 Form information processed through E-Verify and is eligible to work on an E-Verify contract. If the status is F—Failed, the employee may not work on a contract subject to E-Verify.

Information for Existing Employees

Existing employees assigned to work on an E-Verify contract must complete a new I-9 Form and initiate E-Verify within the later of:

• 90 days of the date of the contract award (i.e. the start date of the contract); or
• 30 days of being assigned work on the contract.

If you are assigned to work on an E-Verify contract, the principal investigator or the department business manager will provide you with Instructions for Individuals Newly Assigned to an E-Verify Award [pdf] and an E-Verify I-9 Processing Request Form [pdf]. Once you have these forms, you should promptly visit the  to complete a new I-9 Form.

When you arrive at the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center to complete a new I-9 Form, you must identify yourself as an employee working on an E-Verify award by presenting the processing request form you received from your department. Once you have completed a new I-9 Form, Payroll will provide you a written confirmation that you have initiated the E-Verify process and you may return to work. You should provide the confirmation to your department business manager.

After you have completed a new I-9 Form and returned to work, the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center will enter the information from your I-9 Form into the E-Verify system. The E-Verify system will compare your information to records maintained in Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases to confirm your eligibility to work in the United States.

The Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center will contact you if the initial query of the E-Verify system does not confirm your work authorization.

Information for New Employees

All new employees (regardless of whether assigned to an E-Verify contract) must complete an I-9 Form within three days of the first day of work. New employees who are assigned to work on an E-Verify contract must also have the information from the I-9 Form processed through E-Verify within three days of the first day of work.

If you are assigned to work on an E-Verify contract, the principal investigator or the department business manager will provide you with Instructions for Individuals Newly Assigned to an E-Verify Award [pdf]and an E-Verify I-9 Processing Request Form [pdf].  Once you have these forms, you should promptly visit Payroll offices at the UTDC to complete a new I-9 Form.

When you arrive at the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center to complete a new I-9 Form, you must identify yourself as an employee working on an E-Verify award by presenting the processing request form you received from your department. Once you have completed a new I-9 Form, the Service Center will provide you a written confirmation that you have initiated the E-Verify process and you may return to work. You should provide the confirmation to your department business manager.

After you have completed a new I-9 Form and returned to work, the Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center will enter the information from your I-9 Form into the E-Verify system. The E-Verify system will compare your information to records maintained in Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases to confirm your eligibility to work in the United States.

The Ò»±¾µÀÎÞÂëWorks Service Center will contact you if the initial query of the E-Verify system does not confirm your work authorization.

What are the possible results of an E-Verify query?

• Employment Authorized—The employee is authorized to work in the United States. This is the most common response from the E-Verify system. No further action is required.
• Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Verification in Process—This response indicates that the employee's information matches Social Security Administration (SSA) records but does not match DHS records. The case is automatically referred to DHS for further verification. No further action is required by the employee at this time.
• Tentative Non-Confirmation—This response indicates that the information submitted to E-Verify does not initially match records in SSA or DHS databases. This does not necessarily mean the employee is not authorized to work in the United States. A Human Resources representative will contact any employee who receives a tentative non-confirmation. The employee must contact either SSA or DHS within eight government work days to resolve the problem.
• Case in Continuance—This response indicates that the employee has contacted DHS or SSA to resolve a tentative non-confirmation but the agency needs more time to resolve the problem.
• Final Non-Confirmation—This response indicates that DHS and/or SSA could not verify the employee's eligibility to work in the United States. This response also occurs when an employee fails to contact SSA or DHS after receiving a tentative non-confirmation. Employees who receive a final non-confirmation will be terminated.

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), approximately 93% of all employees nationwide who are run through E-Verify receive "Employment Authorized" in response to the initial query.  However, if the E-Verify system cannot immediately confirm the accuracy of the information on your I-9 Form, the system may issue a "Tentative Non-Confirmation."

A Human Resources representative will contact you if the E-Verify system issues you a Tentative Non-Confirmation or if there are any other problems related to processing your information through E-Verify.  Employees who receive a Tentative Non-Confirmation will be offered an opportunity to contest the result by contacting either the Social Security Administration (SSA) and/or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve any problems. Employees may continue to work while resolving problems with SSA or DHS. Employees who choose not to contest a Tentative Non-Confirmation will be terminated.