Highlights
Impacted Employers:Allemployers with employees in Indiana.
Effective Date:July 1, 2026.
Summary: Indiana has enacted legislation that will amend state law to expressly prohibit employers from knowingly or intentionally recruiting, hiring, or continuing to employ an individual who is unauthorized to work. The amended law will also establish certain protections under state law for employers that engage in “reasonable diligence” (as defined) to verify new hires are authorized to work.
Next Steps:Indiana employers should review the changes to state law with legal counsel and determine whether to update their new-hire vetting procedures.
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The Details
Effective July 1, 2026, Indiana state law will expressly prohibit employers from knowingly or intentionally recruiting, hiring, or continuing to employ an individual who is unauthorized to work.
The amended state law will also establish that an employer isn’t in violation of that prohibition if the employer engaged in “reasonable diligence” before recruiting, hiring, or continuing to employ the individual.
The amended state law will define reasonable diligence as:
- Using an electronic verification of work authorization program operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to verify the work eligibility of an employee, except where the circumstances under which the verification was made would have put a reasonable person on notice that the verification was unreliable or of limited reliability; or
- Engaging in diligence to confirm work eligibility of an individual “in a manner that is consistent with industry standard best practices.”
The law does not define what is meant by “in a manner that is consistent with industry best practices.”
Indiana’s Attorney General will be responsible for bringing an enforcement action against an employer if the Attorney General determines that probable cause exists that an employer has violated the amended state law.
In limited cases, the amended state law will give an employer the opportunity to avoid liability for a single violation if they have never been found in violation of the law before and, within 15 business days of receiving the Attorney General's notice, the employer either:
- Provides evidence that the employer has engaged in reasonable diligence to confirm the work eligibility of the employer's employees and that the employer hasn’t violated the law; or
- Submits an affidavit attesting that the employer has terminated the employment of the employees who are deemed unauthorized to work, engaged in reasonable diligence to confirm the work eligibility of all of its employees, and won’t knowingly employ any unauthorized workers in the future.
Unless an exception applies, the amended state law will authorize courts to impose penalties on violators, including ordering the employer to suspend business operations.
The amended state law will also prohibit an employer from discharging or discriminating against an employee because the employee communicated or cooperated with the Attorney General.
Next Steps
Indiana employers should review the law in full for details and consult with legal counsel to determine whether an update to new-hire verification procedures is needed.