How the Government Shutdown Affects Employers

The government shutdown is officially the longest in history and seemingly has no end in sight. Effects from the shutdown are being felt across the country including airports, national parks and, of course, hundreds of thousands of federal workers who continue to go without pay.
 
As an employer, you may be wondering how the shutdown impacts your ability to onboard new employees. Here are some key impacts that may affect your hiring practices.

E-Verify Lapse

Perhaps most impactful to employers when it comes to onboarding new employees is the lapse in E-Verify services. E-Verify services are currently unavailable meaning employers cannot run new employees through the system and employees cannot resolve Tentative Non-confirmations (TNC).
 
As outlined on the E-Verify site, the following policies have been implemented:

• The “three-day rule” for creating E-Verify cases is suspended for cases affected by the unavailability of E-Verify.
• The time period during which employees may resolve TNCs will be extended. The number of days E-Verify is not available will not count toward the days the employee has to begin the process of resolving their TNCs.
• E-Verify will provide additional guidance regarding “three-day rule” and time period to resolve TNCs deadlines once operations resume.
• Employers may not take adverse action against an employee because the E-Verify case is in an interim case status, including while the employee’s case is in an extended interim case status due to the unavailability of E-Verify.

Employers must still complete the Form I-9 process per normal requirements.

Potential Impacts to PACER

Currently the federal courts are operating on a limited budget with enough funding to last until January 18^th. It remains unclear what will happen after the 18^th including if there will be an eventual impact to the PACER system which is the avenue for federal criminal searches.

Regulatory Bodies

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also feeling the effects of the government shutdown and remains closed due to the lapse in funding. This includes services such as identitytheft.gov which is used by consumers to report identity theft.
 
Likewise, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is closed meaning only a limited number of services are available; however, litigation efforts are currently suspended unless needed on an emergency basis.
 
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau remains open.
 
Asurint will continue to monitor the government shutdown and will provide updates to the above when available.