Worker-status checking gets done without fuss

Local contractors say new rule helps with hiring process

By Leslie Berestein
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. October 27, 2009

NASSCO, which was checking workers' eligibility status before a new federal rule began in September. - Charlie Neuman / Union-TribuneIn this region rife with federal contractors, employers are heeding a new rule requiring them to ensure that their employees are working legally in this country.

Employers with federal contracts or subcontracts of more than $100,000 and lasting longer than 120 days are now required to use E-Verify, a federal, Internet-based system that checks information provided on workers' employment eligibility verification forms, known as I-9 forms, to ensure that they are eligible to work in the United States.

The system checks employees' Social Security data for authenticity, as well as their immigration status.

Under the new rule, which went into effect Sept. 8, new hires must be screened. So must existing employees working directly on a federal contract, a provision of the rule that has met with ire from the business lobby.

In San Diego, however, where federal dollars keep shipbuilding and other defense-related industries afloat, contractors aren't complaining.

“It has run smoothly for us,â€