Complete Your New Hire I-9 Forms Correctly to Avoid Compliance Issues in Business and at Work

On their first day at their new job, a mentee filled out their portion of the I-9 form. However, they only had their driver’s license with them – they forgot to bring their Social Security card. They were told by their new employer not to worry, and the employer merely asked them to provide their Social Security number (which is not the correct / compliant way to verify a new hire’s authorization to work for any employer in the United States).

U.S. employers of all sizes must complete the I-9 form for each new hire within the first 3 days of the new hire’s employment:

Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and non-citizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form. On the form, an employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present his or her employer with acceptable documents evidencing identity and employment authorization. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form.

Particularly for employers who don’t use E Verify, it’s important for the employer to inspect the new hire’s original document(s) which confirm the new hire’s authorization to work for any employer in the United States. Copies of the documents will not suffice, as it’s fairly easy to forge copies of the I-9 required documents.

Aside from keeping employee I-9’s secure in a separate file, the best way to prepare for a potential U.S. Citizenship and Immigration audit is to ensure that each new hire provides their original documents for their new employer to inspect and verify.

How do you complete your new hire I-9 Forms correctly to avoid compliance issues in business and at work?