What Every Employer Needs to Know About the People You Hire

The immigration debate is a hot topic.  Arizona recently passed controversial legislation causing an outcry from both sides of the debate.  Racial profiling, unlawful search and seizure and discrimination are just a few of the terms being bantered about.   Why should this matter to anyone who doesn’t live in Arizona?

It is hard to argue the current immigration system is not broken and I hope people a lot smarter than me are working on solving the problem.  For now, we must live with and work with the system that is in place.  A large piece of the illegal immigration puzzle is the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

Using the Form I-9, every employer has the responsibility under the law to verify both the identity and work authorization of every person they hire regardless of that person’s citizenship status. This means filling out the I-9 form for every person hired and inspecting ID and work eligibility documents provided by the new employee.

Of course when the original Form I-9 process was developed in 1986, the ability to easily, quickly, and cheaply produce fake documents was not a huge concern.  However, in the current environment, technology is readily accessible to produce authentic looking documents in a very few minutes.

How Can an Employer Be Sure About the Work Eligibility of Who They Are Hiring?

The answer is “they can’t be sure” – and the law does not require that they are sure.  In fact, there are consequences for employers who refuse to accept documents if they appear to be genuine.  There are also penalties for employers who require certain employees to provide more documents than are required by the I-9 process.  Anti-discrimination laws protect employees from employers who may treat them differently because they sound or look foreign or have a foreign sounding name.

The government is providing more tools for employers to use to help them avoid hiring mistakes.  E-Verify for employers is an electronic verification system run by the Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the Social Security Administration.  It is free to all employers.  Using information provided on the Form I-9, the employer can access the E-Verify system and check the work authorization of new hires.  Results are returned within a few seconds.

Of course, no system is perfect and E-Verify does not recognize identity theft in about 50% of the cases.  If someone has stolen another person’s identity, E-Verify only “knows” that identity is authorized to work – it cannot determine the person sitting in front of you is not that person.  For the system to work more perfectly, it would need to maintain a current photo of every person in the U.S. and match that information to the employee.  It is doubtful we will see that in the near future.

What Should a Well Intended Employer Do About Employment Elibigility Verification?

• Complete the Form I-9 at the time of hire for every new employee.
• Be sure the employee completes Section 1 carefully and accurately.
• Use the List of Acceptable Documents from the I-9 and carefully inspect the documents provided by the employee.  Record the document information accurately and completely in the document lists in Section 2.
• Use E-Verify for every new hire.
• Treat every person you hire the same, regardless of their name or appearance.

Proper completion and maintenance of the Form I-9 is the best tool currently available to employers to help them hire a legal work force. It isn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it is what we have and it is the law.

The Redesigned Permanent Resident Card

On May 11, 2010, USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) announced it will begin issuing a “new and improved” Permanent Resident Card, which most of us know as the Green Card.  In a moment of genius, the designers of the card decided to make it green in color for ease of recognition!

The new Permanent Resident Card incorporates state-of-the-art technology to prevent counterfeiting and facilitate accurate authentication. USCIS will now issue all Green Cards in the new, more secure format.  Recipients of the redesigned Permanent Resident Card will include those newly approved lawful permanent residents, as well as those who get a renewal or replacement card.

Although this seems to be a positive step in decreasing incidents of identity theft and document fraud, it creates more uncertainty for employers.  It becomes the employer’s burden to identify legitimate documents when many employers are not familiar with every version of the Green Card issued over time.

There have been several versions of the Green Card issued over the years.  The first Green Card was issued in 1946 and was referred to at that time as an Alien Registration Receipt Card.  Few of these are still in circulation; they contain no expiration date and as of March 20, 1996 are no longer valid evidence of permanent residency.  Other versions of the Resident Alien Card were issued in 1977 and again in 1989.  Neither the 1977 card nor the 1989 were green in color.

In 1997, the card was renamed to Permanent Resident Card and updated yet again in 2004.  Each time the card was updated, additional security measures were added. As for the most current version issued just this week, holders of older cards will only receive the redesigned Permanent Resident Card when seeking a renewal or replacement card.

Employers should choose to work with a qualified expert to help them navigate the complex requirements of the Form I-9.  Inspecting work authorization and identity documents is an integral part of meeting your responsibility to verify the work eligibility of each person you hire.  The experts at I-9 Okay have reviewed thousands of employee identity documents and are ready to assist you with all of your Form I-9 and E-Verify needs.

States Jump on the E-Verify Bandwagon

Most of you have heard about E-Verify for employers but you may not be paying close enough attention because you don’t think it is something you need to think about.  Well, you might want to think again!  The federal government already requires employer’s with federal contracts to use E-Verify for any employee assigned to the contract. Many states are passing laws requiring employers to use E-Verify and many more state have legislation pending.

As of today, 16 states require E-Verify in some capacity.  Arizona, Utah, South Carolina, and Mississippi require all employers to use E-Verify.  Idaho, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, and Georgia require state agencies and employers with state contracts to use E-Verify.  Virginia and North Carolina require state agencies to use E-Verify and several cities and municipalities have passed their own legislation.

E-Verify uses the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration databases to verify employment eligibility to work in the United States.  After signing up to use E-Verify, the employer inputs information gathered on the Form I-9 into the E-Verify system to confirm the work eligibility of an individual in just a few seconds.  Unfortunately, the process of signing up and receiving approval for E-Verify can be cumbersome…but there is a simple solution.

An employer may contract with an E-Verify Designated Agent to utilize the federal database without having to go through the hassle of signing up, taking the training, and passing the mastery test.  An E-Verify Designated Agent is authorized to use E-Verify to check the employees of any company, with their permission of course.

Using a Designated Agent is a good solution for companies that don’t want to spend valuable resources on an administrative task.  It is a great solution for HR departments that are already stretched to the limit and can’t begin to think about adding one more thing to their busy schedules.

I-9 Okay is an E-Verify Designated Agent.  We are able to assist companies, large and small, with all of their E-Verify and Form I-9 compliance concerns.  E-verify has very specific rules of use…what you don’t know could hurt your company. The E-Verify specialists at I-9 Okay are experts in helping employers navigate the complex rules concerning E-Verify requirements and Federal contracts. Contact us today.

Form I-9 Spring Cleaning

The days are longer, the nights are warmer, and the tulips and daffodils are poking up their little heads. Spring has sprung and for many of us that means it’s time for some good old fashioned spring cleaning.  Many of us will spend time sweeping away dust and cleaning out the junk drawer.  If you are a business owner or human resource professional, I’d like to encourage you to take a good hard look at your employee hiring process.  It may be time for a little sprucing up when it comes to I-9 compliance.

Which Version of the Form I-9 is Acceptable?

All employers are required by law to verify the identity and employment eligibility of their employees using the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.  Most of you already know this.  However, many times when we go into a business to conduct a Form I-9 review, we find the employer using expired I-9 forms for their new hires.  An employer must always use the most current version of the Form I-9.  The most current version of the Form I-9 was revised 8/7/09 and has an expiration date of 8/31/12.  No other I-9 form is considered valid for new hires to complete.  During your spring cleaning, go through your blank forms and discard any expired I-9 forms.

What’s Your Company Form I-9 Retention Policy?

It may be time to go through your terminated employees’ I-9 forms and destroy those that have exceeded the retention requirements.  Remember, you are required to keep an I-9 form for the entire term of employment, plus 1 year after the date of termination or 3 years after the date of hire, whichever is a longer period of time.  If you do not have a company policy or procedure in place for dealing with archived I-9 forms, spring is the perfect time to develop one.

Many States have passed their own Form I-9 and/or E-Verify regulations.  Check with your state’s Department of Labor to be sure you are complying with all state imposed laws.

Conducting an independent 3^rd party review is an excellent way to make a clean sweep of issues, errors, and omissions that will be costly if your company is selected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a worksite inspection.  Often times, an independent auditor will identify an issue that is a simple fix and will ultimately save an employer thousands of dollars and many headaches.

Summer will be here before you know it and won’t it be nice to relax on the beach somewhere without worrying about your company’s I-9 forms!

E-Verify Abuse

The Office of Special Counsel for Unfair Immigration-Related Employment Practices (OSC) is actively monitoring potential employer misuse of the E-Verify system.  “Employers can expect more investigations into E-Verify misuse from the OSC,” says Ryan Adair, MSEC, Manager of Immigration Services. “These investigations are time consuming and expensive to defend.”

E-Verify is the online system that allows employers to verify work eligibility of new employees using information gathered on the Form I-9.  The focus of the OSC is to hold employers responsible if they misuse E-Verify.  Employers who misuse E-Verify will face fines, may lose their federal contracts, and may be debarred from the bid process on future federal contracts.

To avoid trouble with OSC employers should use E-Verify only according to the guidelines provided by the program and avoid using E-verify to:

• prescreen job applicants.
• verify work eligibility of current employees (unless a federal contract expressly requires E-Verify usage on existing employees).
• selectively check employee work eligibility based on citizenship status or suspicion that an employee may not be authorized to work in the U.S.

E-Verify states employers may not:

• terminate or take other adverse action based on an E-Verify tentative non-confirmation.
• ask an employee to obtain a printout or other written verification from the Social Security Administration confirming that the employee visited the office.
• ask an employee to provide additional documentation after receiving a tentative non-confirmation for the employee.

Employers should ensure they know the E-Verify rules and follow them. What you don’t know may cost you!