Florida may soon enact significant legislation relating to immigration, HB 1617/SB 1718. The bill, which the Senate passed April 28, among other things, includes a requirement that private employers with more than 25 employees use the federal government’s E-Verify system for newly hired employees beginning July 1, 2023. E-Verify is an online system that determines employment eligibility by comparing an employee’s information with government records, initially launched in 1996.
Florida’s E-Verify laws have a relatively recent history, with the state’s initial requirements for public employers and contractors to use the E-Verify system beginning Jan. 1, 2021. The 2021 law requires every public employer, contractor, and subcontractor to use the E-Verify system to verify the work authorization status of all newly hired employees. With the passage of this most recent legislation, the requirement would, if signed into law, extend to private employers with 25 or more employees that would be required to verify employment eligibility of their new employees using the E-Verify system. Under the proposed legislation, failure to correctly use the E-Verify system would carry considerable consequences, with potential Florida Department of Economic Opportunity fines of $1,000 per day until the employer provided sufficient proof to the department that the noncompliance was resolved.
The rationale behind Florida’s E-Verify requirements aligns with other federal and state laws that prohibit...
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