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E-Verify -- Immigration Enforcement Comes to Federal Contracting

Client Alert | 1 min read | 11.14.08

On November 14, 2008, the FAR Council issued a new rule and contract clause, effective January 15, 2009, requiring most federal contractors and subcontractors to use the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires in the United States and all employees working in the United States on federal contracts and subcontracts. The contract clause will apply to all new federal contracts for more than $100,000 (except for very limited contracts for commercially available off-the-shelf items sold in substantial quantities in the commercial marketplace) and subcontracts for services or construction in excess of $3000 and includes a specific provision requiring referral for potential suspension or debarment for failure to comply with the rules governing the E-Verify program.

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.12.26

DOJ Guidance Backs Away From Disparate Impact Liability

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”...