As of the first of July, businesses may now be eligible to display the E-Verify logo on their website, presentation materials and brochures, which could prove beneficial to your landscaping company.
E-Verify is a federal program that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of newly hired workers after they have accepted a job. Designed to prevent immigrants from working in the country illegally, the internet-based system compares an employee’s I-9 information to records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Using the program is voluntary except for employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that have the Federal Acquisition Regulation E-Verify clause.
According to E-Verify, having this logo present on your company’s materials is an easy way to let customers know that you are actively using E-Verify to help maintain a legal workforce.
With this logo present on your landscaping company’s building front, business cards and other marketing materials, both current and potential customers can rest at ease knowing that every employee under your watch is legally able to work and has been properly and thoroughly checked through this system.
Employers already enrolled in E-Verify, business and trade associations, federal, state and local government agencies that promote E-Verify and media outlets whose purpose in using the logo is to incorporate E-Verify into their media outreach can all request authorization to use the logo.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, 20 states (Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia) have legislation that requires some public and/or private employers to use E-Verify. Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and Tennessee require all employers to use E-Verify. Employers must initiate an E-Verify inquiry within three business days of hiring someone.
E-Verify states online that if your company would like to be authorized to use the logo and name, you must download the Guidelines and Licensing Agreement (PDF, 54.21 KB), and your landscaping company must meet certain criteria as prescribed in the guidelines for using the E-Verify trademark.
Once the agreement is reviewed and filled out, it can be returned via email, and upon receipt and approval of the licensing agreement, E-Verify says the DHS will furnish the digitized logo files for use on websites and approved printed materials.
E-Verify also offers the option of participating in the DHS’s I E-Verify campaign, which E-Verify says highlights employers’ commitment to working with the DHS to maintain a legal workforce and reduce unauthorized employment.
“(The) Department of Homeland Security is making available to current E-Verify enrolled employers an I E-Verify seal, which employers can post in a visible place (for example, windows, doors or bulletin boards) to advertise that they use E-Verify to maintain a legal workforce,” E-Verify states online. “Use of the seal will only be granted after confirmation of the employer’s status in the E-Verify program. The use or placement of this seal will not preclude federal agents from conducting worksite enforcement activities and is not intended to provide a safe harbor for the employers.”
E-Verify states online that the I E-Verify seal does not constitute a DHS endorsement of any employer’s business, goods, services or policies, and use of the seal does not place E-Verify program requirements to post both the E-Verify participation poster and the Right-To-Work poster.
To request authorization to post the E-Verify logo on your landscaping company’s website, presentation materials and brochures, visit the Trademark and Logo Usage Guidelines webpage.