North Dakota Lawful Employment Verification and Reporting Act

This Act requires each employer in North Dakota, as a condition of hiring a new employee, to verify the employee’s authorization to work in the United States through the federal E-Verify system or another federally approved process, while prohibiting verification based solely on an individual’s race, national origin, or accent. Employers shall retain verification records for three years or the duration of employment, whichever is longer, and report unresolved federal work-authorization mismatches to the appropriate state agency within 30 days after providing the employee an opportunity to correct the record. The agency may assess civil penalties for knowing violations, provide a safe-harbor period for first-time good-faith errors, and coordinate enforcement with federal authorities without creating any separate state immigration-status determination.