A green light for E-Verify

Federal agencies on Tuesday began requiring contractors to use an electronic system to verify whether their employees are eligible to work in the U.S. The E-Verify mandate has been long in the making, first by the Bush administration, and then implemented by the Obama administration after court challenges.

About 169,000 federal contractors and subcontractors, who employ roughly 3.8 million workers, will eventually be covered by the program taking effect Tuesday.

To make it work, every contract with the government will require contractors to use E-Verify. The new requirements include:

* Every federal contractor will have 30 days to enroll in the E-Verify system.

* Contractors will use a secure website to check the legal status of workers involved in a government project.

* In most cases, contractors will receive an immediate electronic response confirming the employee's eligibility to work.

For more on the launch of E-Verify:
- check out this Wall Street Journal article