Ohio’s New E-Verify Rules Explained

In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins talks with Amanda Fisher of Corporate Intelligence Consultants about e-Verify, the federal employment verification system, and why a new Ohio requirement means more employers may need to pay attention right now.

While e-Verify has long been used by federal contractors and other employers, Ohio is now adding a new mandate for certain non-residential contractors, with implications that can extend to subcontractors and staffing agencies as well. Amanda breaks down what e-Verify is, how it works alongside the I-9 process, what employers in Ohio should be doing now, and why this is more than just another piece of HR paperwork.

The conversation covers:

• What e-Verify is and how it works
• Which Ohio employers may be affected by the new law
• Why subcontractors and staffing agencies should pay attention
• What risks and fines come with noncompliance
• Why policies, contracts, and internal processes matter just as much as enrollment
• Where employers can go for reliable guidance

If you’re a business owner, HR leader, contractor, or staffing partner this episode is a timely look at a compliance issue that could have a real impact on your hiring process.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

Welcome And Topic Setup

Doug Jenkins 0:04

Hello everyone and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Fidlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Each week here on the podcast, we're talking about the things that matter the most to local businesses and organizations, from workforce and leadership development to marketing, IT issues, it could be HR issues, which is kind of what we'll delve into today. It's really about the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. So if your business does government-related contract work in Ohio, or, and this is important, works as a subcontractor for companies that do that government-related work, this could be a very helpful episode for you. We're talking about e Verify. It's a federal employment verification program that has a new Ohio mandate attached to it with an upcoming deadline. It's one of those issues that can sneak up on employers because it sounds pretty niche at first. You don't think it's going to impact that many people, but then you realize that it can kind of ripple through contractors and staffing agencies. So you want to pay attention to these things, even if you don't think it's going to impact you now. Always good to know have that information in the back of your head. And there are real fines tied to not following the process correctly, so you know, keep that in mind. My guest today is Amanda Fisher from Corporate Intelligence Consultants. We'll dig into what eVerify is, who in Ohio needs to be paying attention right now, and what you should be doing before an upcoming deadline. And if you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review. You can do that pretty easily on Apple and Spotify, I think. You can share it with others, especially now that we're on YouTube with the podcast. Just share the link out there if you want people to learn more about this topic. It really does help spread the message, and that's an easy way to do it. Now, let's get into it. We're here to learn about all things e-Verify today. Um, let's first talk about what that is uh to get people in the loop who may not be familiar with with what it's supposed to be.

Amanda Fisher 1:55

Yeah, absolutely. So e-Verify is a federal program that essentially is a way to verify um new employees' um work authorization. They're legally authorized to work for a company. Um now this is a federal program. It is not necessarily in all cases required for private employers. It is at the federal level for federal employees, federal contractors, etc. But we have seen over the last few years a lot of states picking up state mandates as well. Some states have full mandates for e-Verify, some states have partial um mandates for e-Verify. But essentially what it is is it goes hand in hand with the I-9 process, which most employers hopefully are aware of that process where new employee comes in, they fill out their I-9 form, an employer reviews documents, and generally that would be the end of that process. With e-Verify, it just kind of tacks on a next step. So e-Verify is going to uh confirm the information that is on the I-9, matches what is in the Social Security Administration records as well as the Department of Homeland Security records to make sure that it is the same person and that they are legally authorized to work. So private employers are welcome and by the government and encouraged to use this. It is seen as kind of an extra step of due diligence in that onboarding process to ensure that you have a legally authorized workforce employed for your company. Um and as I said, this is being picked up more at the state level to make that a mandate. So to your point of that post that came up, uh this is something new in Ohio now.

Doug Jenkins 3:52

Um yeah, that's what I was gonna ask, as you mentioned, it's kind of state by state. Where are we at in Ohio then with this process?

Amanda Fisher 3:59

Yes, so in Ohio we have the first uh mandate. It is a partial mandate, mandate, and it is specific to employers that are non-residential contractors. So that could be roads, it could be utilities, it could be uh commercial buildings, that kind of thing. Um, right now that does not apply to say apartment building houses, that kinds of thing. Um, so only employers that fall within that category are required to start doing e-verify for all new employees starting March 19th of this year. And that will also apply for subcontractors as well as say if they're hiring through staffing agencies, it would apply for them as well. So it's kind of a a big deal in that realm of having to uh start that pretty soon. Uh, that was um put into law back in December, and just in a couple weeks here will be required.

Subcontractor Ripple Effects

Doug Jenkins 4:59

Look at us being timely on the podcast. I just randomly reached out to you guys about this, and uh, you know what? Sometimes better lucky than good on uh on the timing of these things. Um you mentioned that so subcontractors can be impacted by this, and that I would have to imagine means there's a larger ripple effect than maybe people think when you first talk about the types of uh employers that can be impacted by e-verify. It might be a small set, but if the subcontractors they use also have to use the system, that ripples out pretty quickly.

Amanda Fisher 5:33

Yes, it definitely can. And that's one of those things that I've been telling clients that are you know questioning this is it's definitely a time to talk to legal counsel to see not only for your pre-employment hires and you know what you need to do, the policies that need to be in place uh as you're making that transition, but also to review contracts with your vendors and with those other contractors coming in to make sure that they are doing what they need to do and that you are covered as well as the employer that is bringing them on site into your into your workforce.

Doug Jenkins 6:10

So with this rolling out relatively soon, I'm sure you're trying to walk people through the process. Are there any stumbling blocks people are running into uh that that maybe they need to be aware of as they try and make sure their ducks are in a row to be in compliance with this?

Amanda Fisher 6:25

I'd say it's hard to say quite yet. I think people are still trying to figure it out. I think in general, and getting enrolled in e-Verify, it's not very challenging. We um at corporate intelligence, we are what's called an employer-designated agent. So we can run basically employers can use our system to run the I-9 electronically and just automatically run the e-Verify right after that. And the setup process is fairly simple. It's really you have to sign an agreement with e-Verify and kind of just start from there. It can get more complicated as you get if there are multiple hiring sites and where you're actually doing your I-9s versus like if there's a lot of sites where I-9s are done, you might have to set it up a little differently than if it's all done in one location. So that's I help employers kind of figure that out based on the structure of their company at that point. But um I think that with any new law, there could be some gray areas that we don't quite see yet and might come uh you know to the surface as you move forward and find more hiccups and where any gaps might be within there.

Doug Jenkins 7:48

The uh law of unintended consequences starts to come into play with any of these types of things.

Amanda Fisher 7:54

Absolutely.

Doug Jenkins 7:55

So obviously it's rolling out in Ohio, uh in states. Uh is Michigan in the same boat? Because I know you guys do some work in Michigan as well. Have they rolled out in Michigan for this or no?

Amanda Fisher 8:07

Not quite specifically. I do believe it's more uh it's if they work under federal contracts in a different way.

Doug Jenkins 8:16

That makes sense. Uh no, the only reason I ask on that is just seeing how the process has gone in other states can probably be a good guide of how it will go in Ohio as it rolls out. Uh have you seen any issues? It seems like the biggest issue is just being aware and making sure that you you get signed up for it and are executing the process right now. I don't know if that's what you're seeing across the board or not.

Multi-Site Hiring And Gray Areas

Amanda Fisher 8:38

Yeah, I would say so is you know keeping people informed, which I it was nice to hear that you did see that post on LinkedIn and that it's getting out there for people to see. So hopefully that will continue. But it really is important in a in a risk mitigating uh component of being an employer. So um not only not signing up for e-Verify, there are fines associated with this new law. Um, and then also not complying with how it's supposed to work. So once you enroll in e-Verify, you have to run e-Verify and every new employee. Um, they cannot be used in any picking and choosing potentially discriminatory manner. So under this law, there are actually fines that range from $250 to $1,500 just for forgetting to run an e-verify once you're enrolled. And then there are fines up to $25,000 for employers who choose to continue um employing somebody who does not pass the e-verify past the final confirmation step. So this one, you know, there are some heavy, heavy risk for a business for not complying. So it is definitely important um, again, not only to enroll, but to make sure policies are in place and that contracts are updated.

Doug Jenkins 10:02

Yeah, I think it would make sense for anybody who does subcontracting work just to double check, uh, because I can just imagine this kind of trickling down, and maybe a cleaning company could be impacted, maybe a roofing company, and all these types of companies that get contracted out on different types of things. I guess in my mind, that's who could be impacted that might not realize they could be. Uh, but that's why I'm talking to you. You know more about this than I do. Is it uh maybe maybe it doesn't ripple out quite as much as that, but I think it's something to consider.

Awareness, Risk, And Fine Structure

Amanda Fisher 10:33

I'm not sure yet if it wouldn't get that far. There is, I wish I had that definition up because I do believe there's a definition within the law of what that would look like. I think it's more uh restrained to the the contracting uh part. So if an employer or you know, if you have one contractor company, they might not have enough staff to cover a big project, they might have to bring in some other uh companies to contract under them. So their employees would also need to be run under e-verify. Um so that's my understanding of it. Similar with staffing agencies, if they need to hire out of a staffing agency, that staffing agency would have had to do the e-verify as well.

Doug Jenkins 11:18

That makes sense. And uh as well as this is why we have the experts on this podcast because I just ask random questions. I like having people who know what they're talking about on.

Amanda Fisher 11:26

Uh that is a great point though, because it is vague oftentimes of what exactly does that mean and how does it apply. And I mean, there's questions too, because me as if I were an employer, I'm not running e-Verify myself on another employer's employees. That's their responsibility. So that's where the contracts and those things come into play. Um, because it can get more complicated.

Doug Jenkins 11:52

So, Amanda, if people want to learn more about eVerify as it gets ready to be implemented here in Ohio, what are some good resources for them to turn to?

Amanda Fisher 12:01

Yeah, I definitely recommend um the eVerify website. I think it's everify.gov uh is a great resource. I would also, you know, plug our company, corporate intelligence consultants. Uh, we are on LinkedIn primarily right now, and our website we're posting updates as we learn more. Um and yeah, that that's what I can think of right now for those two. Those are the primary sources in my absolutely.

Doug Jenkins 12:28

Well, Amanda, we appreciate you taking out time out of your day to talk to us about this. And uh thanks for being on the podcast.

Amanda Fisher 12:34

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much.

Defining Scope: Contractors And Staffing

Doug Jenkins 12:37

So, again, the big takeaway from today, e-Verify might not apply to you right now. It's not going to apply to every business, but if you're in the contractor and subcontractor world, you definitely need to know whether it touches you or not. So it's a good reminder that compliance issues often spread farther than people first assume. And so there's a ripple effect to keep an eye on. And it's not just about signing up, it's about having the right policies, contracts, and internal processes in place to begin with. Of course, once you enroll, you have to use the system correctly and consistent for every applicable new hire. That's a big one. And if there's any uncertainty, this is one of those moments where talking to legal counsel or someone in your HR department or somebody just experienced in the world of HR would make a lot of sense. Of course, it's always better to have those questions answered now than discover later that you missed something and that there are fines attached. That's really what we're trying to prevent here is you getting hit with a bill or a fine that you were not anticipating. Well, that'll do it for another edition of Chamber Amplify. This is a free podcast available to the community, made possible by the investment of our members here at the Finley Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. If you're looking at ways to get your business involved in the community, a lot of times the Chamber of Commerce is the best place to start. And if you'd like to learn more about that, just send me an email, D Jenkins at Finley Hancock Chamber.com, and we can talk about how an investment in the chamber not only helps your business, but the business community as a whole. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.