In yesterday’s Advisor, Attorney Roger Tsai briefed readers on dealing with Form I-9 challenges. Today, we present Tsai’s nine most common mistakes on I-9 forms, plus an introduction to the all-things-HR-in-one-place website, HR.BLR.com®.
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Tsai, who is Of Counsel at Holland & Hart LLP in the Salt Lake City office, delivered his practical tips at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium held recently in Las Vegas.
The 9 Most Common Form I-9 Mistakes
Tsai has found the following Form I-9 mistakes are the ones he most commonly encounters:
- The employee fails to sign and date the attestation.
- The employer fails to have the employee complete Section 1 by the first day of employment (that is, the first day for pay).
- The employee doesn’t check the box indicating status (e.g., U.S citizen, lawful permanent resident), or the employee checks multiple boxes.
- The translator or preparer doesn’t complete the preparer box.
- The employer fails to enter acceptable documents on the form, including the document number and title, issuing agency, and expiration date.
- The employer demands certain documents (e.g., social security card).
- The employer does not complete Section 2 by the third day of employment.
- The employer fails to enter the date of hire. This date should match the date on payroll records, Tsai says.
- The employer representative does not sign, date, and print his or her name on the certification.
What if the Employee’s Documentation Doesn’t Look Right?
The standard is reasonableness, says Tsai, that is, does the document reasonably appear to be genuine and relate to the employee? You are not expected to be a document expert. (Just as an example, says Tsai, there are 22 different versions of the Social Security Card that are valid.)
If the document does not appear to be genuine, says Tsai, reject the document and ask for another document on the list.
What if the documents presented do not exactly match what the employee writes on the Form I-9 ( For example, the name is spelled differently.)? Ask the employee about the discrepancy. If the document appears genuine, ask the employee to correct the Form I-9 and initial the change or provide a corrected document.
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Forms in Spanish
The Form I-9 is available in Spanish, says Tsai, but you can’t use the Spanish version except in Puerto Rico. However, you may use the Spanish version as a translation aid when filling out the English version.
Caveat: You may engage an outside firm to do your Form I-9 work, says Tsai, but remember that that doesn’t shift the responsibility for Form I-9 management—that remains with the employer.
I-9 forms and immigration—just one of the many challenges all HR pros face. In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and then on top of that, whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.
You need a go-to resource, and our editors recommend the “everything-HR-in-one website,” HR.BLR.com®. As an example of what you will find, here are some policy recommendations concerning e-mail, excerpted from a sample policy on the website:
Privacy. The director of information services can override any individual password and thus has access to all e-mail messages in order to ensure compliance with company policy. This means that employees do not have an expectation of privacy in their company e-mail or any other information stored or accessed on company computers.
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E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.
Solicitation. In line with our general policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.
We should point out that this is just one of hundreds of sample policies on the site. (You’ll also find analyses of laws and issues, job descriptions, and complete training materials for hundreds of HR topics.)
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