The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Oklahoma can require state contractors to use E-Verify to check whether employees are eligible to work in the United States . However, the court struck down two other controversial provisions of Oklahoma 's immigration law.
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Download NowSeveral groups in Oklahoma challenged three provisions of the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007: Section 7(B), Section 7(c) and Section 9. A U.S. district court judge issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the state from enforcing those three provisions of the law. The state appealed the ruling before a panel of judges of the 10 th Circuit Court of Appeals .
Section 7(B) requires that employers with state contracts use E-Verify to verify the work authorization status of their employees.
E-Verify compares information from the I-9 Form (Employment Eligibility Verification) against federal government databases to verify workers' employment eligibility.
The groups challenged Section 7(B), alleging that it is preempted by federal law. While district court agreed, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said the district court erred in its judgment and reversed the district court's grant of a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Section 7(B).
Section 7(C) of the law prohibits an employer from terminating an authorized worker while retaining an employee that the employer knows or reasonably should know is unauthorized to work. The district court ruled that this provision was unenforceable because it was preempted by federal law. The appeals court upheld the preliminary injunction against Section 7(c), saying the groups challenging the law are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that it is expressly preempted by federal law.
Section 9 requires contractors to verify the work eligibility of their individual independent contractors or withhold certain taxes from those contractors. Otherwise, the contractor would be liable to the state for the money the contractor had failed to withhold. The appeals court upheld the preliminary injunction against this section, saying the groups challenging the law are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that it is impliedly preempted by federal law.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals covers Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.