E-Verify enrollment requirement for all private employers
Effective April 1, 2012, Alabama law requires private employers to verify a person's eligibility for employment after acceptance of an offer of employment. Employee eligibility verification must be completed using either the E-Verify system administered by the Social Security Administration and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or by requiring the same documentation as the Form I-9. Private employers are required to maintain these records for at least three years after the employee's initial date of employment.
Employers with 25 or fewer employees may use the Alabama Department of Homeland Security's free E-Verify Employer Agent Service.
Source: Alabama E-Verify Systems
New hire reporting — 7-day deadline and State Directory of New Hires
Alabama law requires all employers to report each newly hired, recalled, or rehired employee to the Alabama Department of Workforce within seven days of hiring. This obligation applies to every employer operating in Alabama, regardless of size, and covers all employees for whom a W-4 form is completed — including full-time, part-time, and temporary workers.
Statutory deadline and electronic-filing alternative. Code of Alabama § 25-11-5(a) establishes the baseline seven-day reporting window, measured from the employee's date of hire (the first day services for remuneration are performed). Employers who choose to report electronically, however, may transmit reports twice monthly, not less than 12 days nor more than 16 days apart, under the same statute. Effective May 1, 2008, employers with five or more employees must use electronic filing through the Alabama Department of Workforce's online system; smaller employers (fewer than five employees) may file electronically or submit annotated copies of the employee's W-4 form by mail.
Covered employees. A "newly hired individual" includes an employee who (1) has not previously been reported by that employer, or (2) was previously employed by the same employer but has been separated from employment for at least 60 consecutive days. Returning employees who have been separated for 60 or more days trigger the reporting obligation anew.
Required data elements. Each new hire report must include the employee's name, address, Social Security number, and date of hire, plus the employer's name, address, and federal employer identification number (FEIN). The date of hire is the date services for remuneration were first performed, not the offer-acceptance date or the date paperwork was signed.
Enforcement and penalties. Employers who fail to report a newly hired or recalled employee may be assessed a civil penalty of up to $25 per violation under Code of Alabama § 25-11-17. The Department may enforce this penalty for each unreported hire. Late reports (up to 12 months from the start-to-work date) must still be submitted, as the information is needed by the Department of Human Resources and the Federal Parent Locator Service for child-support enforcement and benefit-fraud prevention; reports more than 12 months late are rejected by the system.
Purpose and data use. Alabama established its State Directory of New Hires in 1997 to comply with the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193). The Directory cross-matches new hire data with unemployment-compensation, workers'-compensation, and child-support databases to prevent dual-benefit payments and locate non-custodial parents delinquent in support obligations. Within three days of entry, the Department forwards the information to the federal National Directory of New Hires maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Multi-state employers. A multi-state employer may choose to report all new hires to a single state in which it has employees, rather than reporting separately to each state. If the employer designates a state other than Alabama, it must notify the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing of the designated state. Alabama law does not require reporting of independent contractors.
Source: Ala. Code § 25-11-5 Source: Alabama New-Hire Reporting (Alabama Department of Labor) Source: Ala. Admin. Code r. 480-1-1-.11