In an encouraging sign for the business community, two onerous workplace regulations that would have made it more difficult for employers to hire new workers and keep existing ones have been put on hold.

Facing legal pressure from the U.S. Chamber and other trade groups, the federal government has pushed back a deadline by which federal contractors must comply with mandatory electronic verification of their employees. The E-Verify implementation date was delayed until May 21, 2009, to give the new administration time to review the rule.

"The federal government agreed that the new administration needs time to rethink mandatory E-Verify use, particularly in light of the stressed economy," says Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC), the Chamber's public policy law firm. "We hope that the administration will agree that E-Verify is the wrong solution at the wrong time."

Mandatory use of E-verify by qualified federal contractors and subcontractors was implemented by executive order during the Bush administration. NCLC is challenging the executive order in court, arguing that it unlawfully circumvents Congress. The Chamber supports legislative initiatives to develop and implement an electronic verification system, but it must be effective, efficient, and manageable.

In a separate development, a federal court granted the Obama administration a 60-day extension to respond to the Chamber's lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Social Security No-Match letter regulation, which was blocked from implementation in 2007.

If implemented, employers could be forced to fire employees whose Social Security numbers do not match the government's records if the discrepancy is not resolved within 90 days of receiving a letter from DHS.

To learn more, go to www.uschamber.com/immigration.