How much time to give employee who is illegal to get proper INS status ?

cebudragonlady

The IRS sent a letter saying that the social security number we listed on a 1099-Misc for an employee ( selling raw material to us on his own time ) was
incorrect. I called the Social Security's 1-800 number for verification. The Government response was that the number on record did NOT match the Social Security office's records as being issued. When our shop supervisor asked the employee to get a valid number, the employee confessed to being in the USA
illegally.The copies we have on file of this employee's social security card and state i.d. card look very real. How much time do we have to give the employee to get his immigration status straightened out - before we let him go? This employee has been working with us for over a year, and we just found this out ! In my honest opinion, the employee should have spent spent some money and
resolved this way long time ago.

Theresa Gegen TX

Generally you need to give an employee the opportunity to explain or correct the number if there is a mistake (for example a name change due to marriage could cause a mismatch due to name and number, or a mistake in transcribing the number). If the employee has admitted working illegally and admitted that he gave you incorrect information, I would let him go immediately. There is no mistake to straighten out and he is not authorized to work in the USA. The company cannot keep him as an employee.

It is up to the company if they want to keep him as eligible for rehire in the future if he does get the right to work in the United States.

Good Luck!