On November 14, 2008, the Department of Defense and General Services Administration issued a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require that most federal contractors and subcontractors doing business with the federal government use the E-Verify program to check the employment eligibility of all new hires and employees directly performing work under federal contracts, with some exemptions. On Friday, January 9, 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security decided to delay the implementation of this final rule for a time. This is because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit to strike down the final rule.

The rule was set to go into effect on Thursday, January 15, 2009. It has now been suspended until Friday, February 20, 2009. As of now, it appears that the final rule may take effect on February 20, 2009. Therefore, covered contractors and subcontractors should take the steps necessary to come into compliance with the final rule. Please see our prior alerts on this topic for more information.

We will issue a new alert when there are further developments.