City officials are encouraging business owners and administrators to prepare for enforcement of the E-Verify ordinance approved by city voters Feb. 7.
The city manager’s office
released a public letter detailing requirements of the employment-verification ordinance at an April 17 Springfield City Council luncheon. The letter, which was drafted for up to 25,000 city businesses, nonprofits, organizations and individuals that may hire workers, specifies that the city plans to begin enforcement of the ordinance June 4.
“The purpose is to provide guidance,” City Manager Greg Burris told council at the meeting. “This ordinance applies to any organization in the city that hires people.”
According to the ordinance, all employers in the city are required to use the free federal employment-verification program during the hiring process. Failure to comply can result in business-license suspension or closure of the business.
Entities that already have been issued a business license this year must submit their initial E-Verify Annual Affidavit Form to the licensing division of the Finance department starting with their business license renewal in January 2013, Burris said.
Business owners who apply for a new business license after June 4 will be required to submit the annual affidavit form pledging to use the E-Verify system in hiring workers. The form will be available online or in hard copy at the licensing division of the Finance department, according to the letter.
Burris said city officials have estimated there are roughly 14,000 businesses in the city and another 6,000 to 11,000 nonprofits, churches or other individuals, such as physicians, required to follow the ordinance. Organizations and individuals that are not required to obtain a business license through the city must submit their affidavit form annually by July 1, the start of the city’s fiscal year.
If a business has a complaint filed against it, the city has three business days to notify the organization or individual accused of a violation. That business entity must then provide proof within three days of receiving notification of a complaint that the employees in question are legally able to work in the U.S. If a company does not respond in time with proof, the ordinance requires the city either temporarily or permanently shut down the business or organization, depending on its number of previous violations.
Both the complaint form and the affidavit are available for download at
SpringfieldMo.gov/EVerify.
Burris noted the ordinance does not come with a “reset” provision, which means that if a business has accumulated single or multiple violations and is sold, the new ownership would inherit the violations.
“They’d inherit the sins of the father,” Burris told council members.
Those who are interested in registering to use the federal employment software and receive training on how to use it can go to
USCIS.gov.[[In-content Ad]]
