E-Verify

Definition

The federal check on whether a new hire is allowed to work here.

Why It Matters

It is voluntary under federal law, except for a federal contractor whose contract carries the E-Verify clause, and mandatory under several state laws, so the address and the contracts decide it and not the industry. An asset buyer may carry the seller's I-9 forms forward for the retained staff or complete fresh ones, and in a state that mandates enrollment each fresh form becomes a case the buyer has to run. Ask two things in diligence: whether the seller is enrolled, and whether any case ever came back unresolved, because a workforce that has never been checked is a different risk from one that has been checked and cleared.

In numbers: The window is 3 business days from the first day of work, so a buyer rehiring the whole staff at closing opens every case inside the same 3 business days as everything else that week.