E-Verify requirements in Ohio: the 2026 construction mandate for contractors, subcontractors and labor brokers

As of October 2026, Ohio has an E-Verify mandate, but only for one industry. The E-Verify Workforce Integrity Act, House Bill 246 of the 136th General Assembly, created Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4151 and took effect March 20, 2026, according to the General Assembly's bill page. It requires nonresidential construction contractors, subcontractors at every tier, and labor brokers to verify each employee hired to work on a nonresidential construction project through E-Verify. It reaches private projects as well as public ones. Outside construction, an Ohio employer still has no state E-Verify duty.

The labor broker definition is what makes this a recruiting issue: a staffing agency that supplies workers to a construction contractor is covered in its own right.

Who is covered

The definitions that decide coverage

• Nonresidential construction project: the construction or renovation of any building, highway, bridge, utility or related infrastructure, excluding industrialized units, manufactured homes and residential buildings as defined in R.C. 3781.06, buildings incidental to agricultural use of the land, and mobile homes.
• Nonresidential construction contractor: an individual or entity responsible for the means, method and manner of construction, improvement, renovation or repair on such a project with respect to one or more trades, and that holds itself out as permitted or qualified to do so.
• Subcontractor: anyone who contracts with a nonresidential construction contractor or another subcontractor, regardless of tier, to perform work on the project.
• Labor broker: any individual or entity that hires an employee and supplies the employee's labor to a nonresidential construction contractor or subcontractor, regardless of tier, through a contract. Governmental entities and labor organizations are excluded.
• Employee: an individual who performs services under the contractor's, subcontractor's or broker's direction and control as to both result and details of the work, and who is paid wages, salary or other remuneration. Whether a worker labeled an independent contractor is covered turns on that direction-and-control test, not the label.

There is no employee-count threshold and no contract-value threshold.

What a covered business must do

1. Verify through E-Verify the employment eligibility of each employee hired to perform work on a nonresidential construction project (R.C. 4151.02(A)). Enrollment comes first; see E-Verify enrollment steps.
2. Keep the verification record for three years after the date of hire or one year after employment ends, whichever is later (R.C. 4151.02(B)), the same formula as Form I-9 retention.
3. Do not keep employing someone after a final nonconfirmation (R.C. 4151.03). The statute defines a final nonconfirmation as a case result saying eligibility could not be confirmed, with instructions to close the case. A tentative nonconfirmation is not a final one, and the federal rules forbid adverse action while it is contested; see E-Verify tentative nonconfirmation.

Under R.C. 4151.02(C), a business that already verified an employee through E-Verify does not have to verify that person again unless federal law requires verification or reverification.

The statute does not set its own deadline for creating the case. The federal E-Verify MOU does: within three business days after hire, after Form I-9 is complete, never before an accepted offer, and for all new employees at an enrolled hiring site rather than only those sent to construction projects.

Enforcement and penalties

The Attorney General enforces the chapter. Anyone may file a complaint on the Attorney General's form, which may not require a Social Security number or notarization; anonymous complaints on other forms may also be investigated. The Attorney General may not investigate a complaint based solely on race, color or national origin, and may not act on a violation that resulted from an isolated technical error or an E-Verify malfunction (R.C. 4151.04).

• A notice of violation requires proof, within ten days, that the business's employees are authorized to work. The business may request a hearing within ten business days; otherwise the notice becomes an enforceable order.
• Two or more likely willful violations can disqualify the business from bidding on or participating in state contracts for up to two years.
• If an order is not complied with, the Attorney General sues in common pleas court, which adds $1,000 per violation to the validly imposed penalty and orders up to two years of state-contract ineligibility (R.C. 4151.05).
• If a court finds a business knowingly employed an unauthorized alien, it must order the permanent revocation of the licenses tied to the business location where the person worked, or of the business's general licenses at its primary place of business (R.C. 4151.06).

Federal contractors and Form I-9

Chapter 4151 sits alongside, not in place of, the federal rules. Every Ohio employer completes Form I-9 for every hire; see I-9 timing in hiring. A federal contract with FAR 52.222-54 (generally contracts over $150,000 under FAR 22.1803, flowed down to services or construction subcontracts over $3,500) requires E-Verify for an Ohio business in any industry, with enrollment within 30 days of award.

Staffing agencies and labor brokers

• An agency that supplies workers to a nonresidential construction contractor or subcontractor is a labor broker and must verify those employees itself. The client's own E-Verify enrollment does not cover the agency's employees.
• Once enrolled, the agency's hiring site must verify all its new hires under the federal MOU, including those placed outside construction. Some agencies enroll a separate hiring site for construction work; see E-Verify for staffing agencies.
• Expect contractors to ask for an E-Verify company ID and a compliance certification before workers arrive, and for state agency construction contracts to include the chapter's terms under R.C. 4151.07.
• Licensing and registration are separate; see staffing agency license requirements in Ohio.

A worked example

This is an invented example. A Columbus staffing firm places light-industrial workers in warehouses and, starting in April 2026, supplies six laborers to a drywall subcontractor on a privately financed office building. The office building is a nonresidential construction project and the drywall firm is a subcontractor, so the staffing firm is a labor broker under R.C. 4151.01(E). It enrolls in E-Verify before the laborers start, runs each case within three business days of hire, and keeps the records for three years after hire or one year after employment ends. Because its single hiring site is now enrolled, its warehouse hires are verified too. When one laborer receives a tentative nonconfirmation, the firm keeps him on the job while he contests; only a final nonconfirmation would require ending the employment.

An Ohio checklist

1. Is the work the construction or renovation of a nonresidential building, highway, bridge, utility or related infrastructure? If not, Ohio adds no E-Verify duty.
2. If it is, are you a contractor, a subcontractor at any tier, or a labor broker? All three are covered.
3. Enroll before the first covered hire starts, and verify after the I-9 is complete.
4. Keep records for the later of three years after hire or one year after termination.
5. Act only on a final nonconfirmation, never on a tentative one.
6. Compare other states in E-Verify requirements by state.