TO PROHIBIT STATE ENTITIES FROM EMPLOYING UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS; TO ESTABLISH THE E-VERIFY REQUIREMENT ACT; AND TO REQUIRE STATE ENTITIES TO USE E-VERIFY TO CONFIRM EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY.

New work checks for Arkansas public hires

Beginning January 1, 2026, covered Arkansas public employers must register for E-Verify, the federal electronic work eligibility system. Covered employers include state departments, boards, bureaus, agencies, and political subdivisions. They must check every new hire’s work eligibility exclusively through E-Verify, even when employment ends in fewer than three business days. New hires work provisionally while verification is pending. Employers cannot employ, continue employing, or rehire workers whose work authorization is not verified. They must keep verification records for the full employment period or three years, whichever is longer. Workers hired before January 1, 2026, are exempt from these new-hire requirements; current workers need no verification or reverification under this law. Employers must still complete and keep federally required employment eligibility forms. The law also bans employing unauthorized workers, using the federal definition in effect January 1, 2025. Failure to follow the law is presumed to violate that ban. The Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing can request verification records, and employers must provide them. Third-party requesters must rely on federal verification and cannot make their own final finding that a worker is unauthorized. Beginning July 1, 2026, the department must notify noncompliant employers and give them 30 days to fix the failure.