All North Carolina employers that employ 25 or more workers will be required to use the federal government’s E-Verify system under a new law signed by Governor Perdue on June 23, 2011. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees will be exempt. Employees do not include seasonal temporary workers who are employed for 90 or fewer days during a twelve-consecutive-month period. State agencies, including public universities and community colleges in North Carolina, have been required to use the E-Verify system for the last five years.

The new North Carolina law will take effect at different times based on employers’ size or type. The E-Verify requirement becomes effective for county and municipal employers on October 1, 2011; employers that employ 500 or more employees on October 1, 2012; employers of 100 or more but less than 500 employees on January 1, 2013; and employers that employ 25 or more but less than 100 employees on July 1, 2013.

Covered employers will now be required, after properly completing I-9 forms, to then enter employee identity and work status data electronically with E-Verify.