Did you know that you must complete an I-9, the form that verifies that your employees are eligible to work in the United States, for every single employee? Within the first 3 days of employment? Did you know if you are audited and cannot produce an I-9 for each of your employees, you could be fined up to $2,292 per violation? That can add up quick!
Some tips on the Form I-9:
An I-9 must be completed for each and every new hire that you bring on.
The Employee Section (page 1) needs to be completed by the employee on or before their first day of employment (but only after an offer of employment has been extended!).
The Employer Section (page 2) must be completed within 3 days of the employees first day of employment.
The employee must provide valid, unexpired documentation of their identity based on the chart on the list of acceptable documents (page 3) of the I-9. The employer may not tell the employee which documents that they must provide.
The employer is responsible for verifying that the documents are valid and unexpired. The employer may take copies of the documents to keep with the I-9, but they must do it consistently for every single hire.
I-9's should be stored with other I-9's, in a secure location, and separate from employee medical or personnel files.
When an employee leaves the company, you must retain their I-9 for either 1 year from termination date, or 3 years from their hire date, whichever is later. Purge I-9's by shredding them or destroying them securely!
Form I-9 and more information is available at https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.
Need additional help or have more questions? Want to run an I-9 audit for your facility to learn and mitigate your risk? We are happy to help!
Breanna Stephens
Breanna Stephens, HR Consulting
541-619-2333