Yesterday, a new federal rule took effect, which requires many federal contractors to use the E-Verify system to determine their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States. E-Verify is a free web-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the Social Security Administration. The system compares employee information from the Employment Eligibility Verification Forms (I-9) against federal government databases in order to verify workers’ employment eligibility. Under the new rule, many companies which are awarded a federal contract after September 8, 2009 will be required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date. The contractor will need to use the system to verify employment eligibility for all new hires, regardless of whether the employee will work on the federal contract, and also for all existing employees who perform work on the contracts.