Texas has no statewide E-Verify requirement for private employers. State agencies and their contractors must use E-Verify under a 2014 executive order. Harris County requires E-Verify for its own workforce and many contracted vendors, but private businesses are not bound countywide.
Federal law mandates E-Verify only for federal contractors under FAR 52.222-54. Texas has no general E-Verify mandate for private employers, but Governor Greg Abbott's 2014 Executive Order RP-80, since extended, requires Texas state agencies and their contractors to enroll in E-Verify. Harris County, as a unit of local government, applies E-Verify to its own approximately 17,000 employees and to selected contracts where the contract terms require it. Private businesses operating in Houston, Pasadena, Baytown, Pearland, Sugar Land, and other municipalities have no county-imposed E-Verify obligation beyond any federal contract requirement they accept. Use of E-Verify must comply with anti-discrimination rules under federal Immigration and Nationality Act Section 274B.
Private employers misusing E-Verify to discriminate by national origin face federal Office of Special Counsel penalties up to $4,313 per violation. Harris County imposes no separate E-Verify civil penalty on private businesses absent a contractual requirement.
See how Harris County's e-verify mandates rules stack up against other locations.
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