More I-9
birdgirl
29 Posts
For some reason, I never really noticed the paragraph on the I-9 instruction page that states these documents need to be retained for three years from the date of hire or one year from date of termination (whichever is longer). Is this really true? I feel really nervous about getting rid of these after three years. How do you prove you ever did one if you get audited? Also, if over time only 50% of employees provide copies of verifying documents, should I keep those that I have and not worry about the rest, or should I be aiming for 100%? Can you tell I am doing my first-ever I-9 audit for my organization?
Comments
>instruction page that states these documents need to be retained for
>three years from the date of hire or one year from date of termination
>(whichever is longer). Is this really true? I feel really nervous
>about getting rid of these after three years. How do you prove you
>ever did one if you get audited?
You wouldn't be getting rid of it while the employee was still with you. You keep for all active employees and get rid of termed employees either 3 years from date of hire or 1 year from termination whichever is longer. So if you hired someone Jan 2, 2003 and they termed on June 1, 2003-you would get rid of the I-9 on Jan 2, 2006. If someone is still with you after 20 years, one year from date of termination will be longer than three years. Generally what we do, is pull the I9 when they terminate and hold until we destroy the file in 7 years.
It happened two weeks after I started in this new position and cthr and HRinCA are absolutely right! My predecessor, threw out all the I-9's after three years - but the employees were still active. We had to go through and get new information prior to the audit. HRinCA brings up one of the invaluable lessons - create that spreadsheet - it will definitely help you. Set up the reminder to talk to anyone that has upcoming expiring documents at least 3 months in advance - it sometimes takes that long to get the new ones. Also, make sure that YOU (or whoever processes the paperwork) sign and date the bottom of the form - no later than 3 days after ee start. Our auditor had a field day with that part not being done correctly. Finally, for every new hire, call Social Security and verify their SSN's. We actually had to let go of 2 employees (after they had been here for over a year) because the documents they presented at time of hire did not belong to them. It's an easy process and INS actually encourages it in their training sessions.
So did another agency, not INS, say you have to do it?? We used to track them and remind our people to update them and show us their new ones, but after reading this info. we stopped. Wish all the govt agencies would get on the same page!
Straight from US Department of Justice "Employment Eligibility Verification" - Documentary Changes Based on Interim Rule 62 Fed. Reg. 51001-51006(1997) Effective September 30, 1997. Reverification (Form I-9A):
Employers are responsible for reverifying the work authorization for a person if Section 1 or 2 of the Form I-9 indicates that the individual's employment authorization expires. Employers may either complete a new Form I-9 or use Form I-9A for reverification. Whichever form is used, reverification must be completed no later than the date employment authorization expires. If the form used for reverification indicates in Section 1 or 2 that the individual's employment authorization expires, employers must again reverify no later than the expiration date. Note: List B documents never need to be reverified. Documents presented by U.S. citizens and nationals and Lawful Permanent Residents, are not subject to the reverification requirement, except in the case of Lawful Permanent Residents who present a foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.
List B contains driver's licenses - so the answer is no - you don't have to follow up on those.
Also from the "Handbook for Employers - Instructiosn for Completing Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification Form)" M-274 (Rev. 11/21/91) N, page 16:
"What do I do when an employee's work authorization expires? You will need to reverify on the I-9 in order to continue to employ the person. Reverification must occur not later than the date that work authorization expires...."
I've just reviewed the INS page - oops, Homeland Security, at [url]http://www.bcis.gov/graphics/lawsregs/handbook/hand_emp.pdf[/url] - it's an updated version of the one that I wrote above, but it says essentially the same thing. It does go further though and states, "You may want to establish a calendar call-up system for employees whose employment authorization will expire in the future."
Another paragraph in the same material says "The current version of the Form I-9 and the Handbook for Employers are dated 11/21/91. Both doucments are undergoing revision to reflect changes in U. S. immigration law since they were issued, but the publication dates have not been established. The proposed changes and Form I-9 published in February 1998 are NOT currently in effect. Interim changes made on September 30, 1997 are currently in effect."
Talk about confusing. Anyway do we know what the interim changes from 1997 are? At least part of them refer to certain documents that are no longer acceptable.
By the way, we do keep all current I-9s in a binder and do have a tracking system that actually isn't far out of date. I audit all I-9s periodically to make sure they are completely filled out.
Note: List B documents never need to be reverified. Documents presented by U.S. citizens and nationals and Lawful Permanent Residents, are not subject to the reverification requirement, except in the case of Lawful Permanent Residents who present a foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.
Maybe there is a distinction between temporary residents and Permanent resident aliens. Maybe we are all right on different pieces of this!
Good luck Don, glad I don't have any federal contracts to worry with. You can let us know what those inspectors tell you about it.
Just re-read the post that I take directly from the source - all I did was copy the note section and posted it with Don's. If there are truly more questions here and you're still worried about source doc.'s then go directly to the homeland security site that I posted earlier. You can find the answers there as well as the most current version in use on the Employer's Guide. I hope this helps.
Hope that helps!
>card" also known as a I-551 card), and a temp work authorization card
>(also known as I-688). The perm resident green cards do not need to
>and SHOULD NOT be reverified after expiration. The temp work
>authorization cards are the ones that need to be reverified. I can't
>think of anything for List B or C that would need to be reverified,
>unless it was a different INS document that was used for List C.
>Hope that helps!
What is the purpose of the expiration date on the Perm resident card then and why would you not re-verify it.