The Utah legislative session kicked off on January 21, 2025, and a bill was introduced into the House, H.B. 214, that proposes to amend the threshold number of employees an employer needs to be covered by Utah’s Private Employer Verification Act. This act requires covered employers to use E-Verify or another status-verification system to verify the federal legal working status of new hires. H.B. 214 proposes to change the threshold from 150 or more employees to five or more employees starting July 1, 2025.
E-Verify “is an internet-based system that compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm employment eligibility,” according to Homeland Security’s webpage on the system. Learn more in Employers Council’s E-Verify whitepaper.
In 2022, the Utah Legislature passed a bill, H.B. 252, that changed the employee threshold to be covered from 15 or more employees to 150 or more employees. So, why are changes to lower the threshold being proposed? State Rep. Neil Walter in the House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee noted he is proposing H.B. 214 for a couple of reasons.
The first is that E-Verify has improved and the burden on small employers is decreasing. The second reason for proposing the bill is to combat identity theft in Utah. Rep. Walter noted that research was done in Utah for individuals receiving public assistance that showed over 200 children 12 years or younger had wages associated with their Social Security number. Ten of these children were under the age of 1.
To help combat identity theft in Utah, H.B. 214 adds that a person using fraudulent identification documentation or documentation of another person to obtain employment is subject to criminal prosecution.
The bill is currently in the House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee. Employers Council will continue to monitor to see if the bill passes. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact us at info@employerscouncil.org.
Erika Paulus is an attorney for Employers Council.