The Dept. of Defense, General Services Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration have agreed to delay the applicability date of a requirement for federal contractors to utilize the federal government’s online E-Verify system for employment eligibility verification to May 21, 2009.

This extends the postponement first sought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of a requirement that was to take effect January 15. E-Verify enables participating employers to verify the employment eligibility of newly-hired employees online, but has run into controversy because it occasionally produces mismatches between social security numbers and names, leading to potential termination of legally authorized workers.