What builders need to know about E-Verify in 2026

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This feature is part of ‘The Dotted Line’ series, which takes an in-depth look at the complex legal landscape of the construction industry. To view the entire series, click here.

Ohio builders will soon have a new hurdle to overcome when it comes to hiring.

Beginning March 19, all contractors on public works projects for state agencies and political subdivisions, along with nonresidential contractors, must register and use the federal E-Verify program. The system allows employers to confirm a new hire’s employment eligibility with federal records from the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

Attorneys told Construction Dive that E-Verify may ultimately help employers, but it also comes with concerns.

“There’s no question that E-Verify is a better tool than using your eyes to say, ‘Yes, I think this is a good document versus a bad document,'” said Bruce Buchanan, senior attorney at the Nashville law firm Littler Mendelson.

There are also consequences for getting it wrong. Penalties in Ohio may come up to $25,000 for failing to act on a final non-confirmation, and a contractor can be barred from bidding on state contracts for up to two years for multiple willful violations, according to a JD Supra blog post by attorneys Alyson Waite and Margarita Krncevic of the Benesch firm.

Additionally, if a contractor hires an employee they know is not licensed, this could result in a permanent revocation of their business license.

With these kinds of potential outcomes in mind, as E-Verify matures and more states enact programs mandating its use for builders, attorneys noted that organizing and showing good faith compliance can go a long way.

E-Verify today

By the time Ohio’s law hits the books, 25 states will have enacted some form of E-Verify rule, said Yane Park McKenzie, an associate in the Atlanta office of law firm Troutman Pepper Locke. However, many of them have subtle differences that require business owners to pay close attention—while a business may not be required to register for E-Verify in one state, it may need to in another.

Take Florida, for example. Private employers in the Sunshine State with 25 or more employees are required to enroll in E-Verify. However, in neighboring Alabama all private employers, regardless of size, must use E-Verifyaccording to accounting firm OnPay.

To complicate matters, municipalities can also enact their own laws. Hernando County, Florida, for example, requires all contractors and subcontractors doing business in the county to use E-Verify.

McKenzie says he has advised large contractor clients to use E-Verify nationally or go state by state.

Alexandra LaCombe, a Detroit partner at the law firm Fisher Phillips, said one of the most important messages she tells clients is that E-Verify does not replace the traditional I-9 processthe form used to document an employee’s employment eligibility in the US. Rather, it complements it.

“Just because you’re enrolled in E-Verify and you’re running people through E-Verify, it doesn’t mean you have to stop or you can stop filling out I-9s,” LaCombe said.

Protecting your business

Ohio’s legislation comes amid a immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump administration and fierce backlash against enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The effect is compounded by a persistent labor shortage in an industry that it needs 349,000 workers to cover current demand.

For contractors, the effects have been serious: about 34% of construction workers are immigrants. In some operations, that share can climb as high as 61 percent, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, told Construction Dive in January.

Builders should be aware that the Trump Administration’s focus on immigration will not diminish, McKenzie added.

“The reality is that this administration is coming down hard, and I think for the remaining three years, they’re really going to go after employers for workplace compliance,” McKenzie said.

Regular internal audits can help, he said, as can establishing an E-Verify client to manage the process. It is vital to appoint only one Compliance Lead to oversee E-Verify, rather than a different person for each project.

“I think that can lead to lower levels of compliance or inconsistencies in documentation, things like that,” McKenzie said.

An additional shield could also come from making sure other companies, including staffing firms and subcontractors, do things by the book.

“Many construction employers sometimes use staffing agencies, and the staffing agency is also not a shield to protect the employer from full liability,” said Chris Caravello, an associate at Fisher Phillips in Denver.

Caravello advised that contractors use strong language in their contracts with staffing agencies to make sure those companies also perform regular I-9 audits, for example. If they don’t, it may be worth it for a contractor to find another vendor to ensure the company and any suppliers are in compliance.

While Ohio law, as written, should protect contractors from their subcontractors’ liability, McKenzie suggested a similar step-down provision for a subcontractor’s E-Verify compliance. In that memo, he cautioned that a builder should not review a subcontractor’s I-9 forms because of potential privacy concerns. A contractor, McKenzie said, is responsible for I-9 compliance in his own business.

Littler’s Buchanan addressed a similar point: By signing up for E-Verify, contractors don’t need to know more about the documents workers submit, in addition to privacy concerns.

“It literally allows the government to take a peek into your workforce,” Buchanan said.

Green cards, for example, change frequently and can cause problems for builders who try to go deep on their own when they don’t need to, Buchanan said. If an employer throws out the paperwork and the employee is a citizen, that could lead to discrimination charges.

“I always worry about when [employers] I think they have a good understanding of these documents,” Buchanan said.

But making a good effort to follow the law can help a builder in the long run, said Asafu Suzuki, a Columbus, Ohio-based senior attorney at the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. While the penalties may seem harsh, they are aimed at what she called “bad actors.”

“Good faith compliance tends to go a long way, especially as laws are taking off and the state is also learning as it goes along,” Suzuki said.