i-9 Help
pbartlow
4 Posts
I can't seem to find anything regarding my questions so maybe someone here can help....
Recently my boss realized that we should be keeping the I-9's in another location other than the ee files. What she has asked me to do is find out a few things before we re-do our filing system. I know that if an I-9 is incomplete or filled out incorrectly, the ee should fill out a new one for our records. What my boss is wondering is if we should have ee's fill out a new I-9 annually or how often we should have a new I-9 filled out. I know at the top of the I-9 document it has an expiration date but is that just in reference to when you can stop using the form instead of that after this date you need ee's to fill out a new one?
Comments
If the I-9 is properly filled out, you should not need to request the employee to fill out another one as long as they are still employed with you. If they leave and come back at a later date, you should then have them fill out a new one.
You should not write on any part of the I-9 except sections 2 and 3. If you do, you have to sign off on the preparer portion of the document, which probably commits you to more than you want, give what you've already committed to in signing section 2.
If, in the course of an I-9 audit, you find an irregularity in section 1, you should have the employee correct, initial, and date the irregularity. Attach a note explaining that the missing item was found in a self-audit on such-and-such a day and corrected as of the employee's initials. Use the same procedure for irregularities found in section 2 or 3, but also indicate in the note that your procedures have been corrected to avoid such a problem (and ensure that the procedures are in fact fixed). If the person is gone, note that on a separate document, attach it to the I-9, and get it out of actives and into inactives.
A wholesale replication of I-9s shouldn't be necessary unless prior administration was completely incompetent with I-9s.
I have an I-9 question also:
The company I recently started with makes a copy of every associate's driver's license and social security card for their personnel file. Now, we employ drivers and we are required by our auto insurance carrier to obtain copies of driver's license for associate's that operate our vehicles. But, I was always under the impression that it was discrimination to have a copy of a picture ID in an associate's personnel file; also, illegal to copy the social security cards.
Is it legal to keep a copy of an associate's picture ID and social security card in their personnel file?
I have an I-9 question also:
The company I recently started with makes a copy of every associate's driver's license and social security card for their personnel file. Now, we employ drivers and we are required by our auto insurance carrier to obtain copies of driver's license for associate's that operate our vehicles. But, I was always under the impression that it was discrimination to have a copy of a picture ID in an associate's personnel file; also, illegal to copy the social security cards.
Is it legal to keep a copy of an associate's picture ID and social security card in their personnel file?
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Several overlapping issues here.
For the I-9, you cannot specify what document or documents the person will provide you to comply with their I-9 obligations. Therefore, you are not entitled to the driver's license and SSC for every employee FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE I-9. Period. You may copy the SSC for I-9 purposes. Any documents you copy with respect to I-9 compliance for an individual must be attached to the I-9 and used for no other purpose. It is legal to store I-9s and related documents in employee files, but that doesn't make it a good idea. If you get a 48 hour notice of audit, will you have time to get all the I-9s out of the employee files so that the auditors don't get to rummage through your full ee files instead of just your I-9s? Also there is information stored on the I-9 that is generally not that important for anybody on the business side to see (like citizenship status). It's not strictly illegal to have that information in the EE file. Whether or not it is an acceptable practice in your location has a lot to do with who has regular access to the EE files. If line supervisors can see into EE files, you should change your filing system pronto.
The IRS requires that you see the SSC for each employee you write a check to. They may actually require you to make a copy, I don't recall. They don't have any real way to force you to do that, but if you have a problem with the IRS, they can fine you something like $50 a crack not to have done this. You cannot force your employees to show their SSC for the I-9 simply because it helps you kill two birds with one stone. I'm also not certain what you can do if an employee provides a non-SSC for their I-9 and then refused to show you a SSC. Probably terminate them for insubordination, I imagine, since the IRS empowers you to demand it, although I'm uncertain of the strength of their authority to so-empower employers. Anybody have the details on that?
Your insurer requires you to have copies of drivers licenses for your drivers. It's probably good to have that stated as a term and condition of their employment in a job offer letter that they sign at hiring. Unless your company is enormous, I would keep them in a 3 ring binder for actives and toss it in the EE file upon termination, assuming I worked someplace that had appropriate controls on EE file access for both active and inactive employees. Demanding drivers licenses for non-drivers is a patently bad idea. There's no job relatedness and there is the potential for creating the impression that you are demanding driver's licenses for I-9 purposes.
I have an I-9 question also:
The company I recently started with makes a copy of every associate's driver's license and social security card for their personnel file. Now, we employ drivers and we are required by our auto insurance carrier to obtain copies of driver's license for associate's that operate our vehicles. But, I was always under the impression that it was discrimination to have a copy of a picture ID in an associate's personnel file; also, illegal to copy the social security cards.
Is it legal to keep a copy of an associate's picture ID and social security card in their personnel file?
[/quote]
Several overlapping issues here.
For the I-9, you cannot specify what document or documents the person will provide you to comply with their I-9 obligations. Therefore, you are not entitled to the driver's license and SSC for every employee FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE I-9. Period. You may copy the SSC for I-9 purposes. Any documents you copy with respect to I-9 compliance for an individual must be attached to the I-9 and used for no other purpose. It is legal to store I-9s and related documents in employee files, but that doesn't make it a good idea. If you get a 48 hour notice of audit, will you have time to get all the I-9s out of the employee files so that the auditors don't get to rummage through your full ee files instead of just your I-9s? Also there is information stored on the I-9 that is generally not that important for anybody on the business side to see (like citizenship status). It's not strictly illegal to have that information in the EE file. Whether or not it is an acceptable practice in your location has a lot to do with who has regular access to the EE files. If line supervisors can see into EE files, you should change your filing system pronto.
The IRS requires that you see the SSC for each employee you write a check to. They may actually require you to make a copy, I don't recall. They don't have any real way to force you to do that, but if you have a problem with the IRS, they can fine you something like $50 a crack not to have done this. You cannot force your employees to show their SSC for the I-9 simply because it helps you kill two birds with one stone. I'm also not certain what you can do if an employee provides a non-SSC for their I-9 and then refused to show you a SSC. Probably terminate them for insubordination, I imagine, since the IRS empowers you to demand it, although I'm uncertain of the strength of their authority to so-empower employers. Anybody have the details on that?
Your insurer requires you to have copies of drivers licenses for your drivers. It's probably good to have that stated as a term and condition of their employment in a job offer letter that they sign at hiring. Unless your company is enormous, I would keep them in a 3 ring binder for actives and toss it in the EE file upon termination, assuming I worked someplace that had appropriate controls on EE file access for both active and inactive employees. Demanding drivers licenses for non-drivers is a patently bad idea. There's no job relatedness and there is the potential for creating the impression that you are demanding driver's licenses for I-9 purposes.
TXHRGuy - I get the impresssion from the publications below that you can ask to see the SSC but aren't required as long as you get the information you need (in the form of a W4).
This is from IRS Publication 15:
4. Employee's Social Security Number (SSN)
You are required to get each employee's name and SSN and to enter them on Form W-2. This requirement also applies to resident and nonresident alien employees. You should ask your employee to show you his or her social security card. The employee may show the card if it is available. You may, but are not required to, photocopy the social security card if the employee provides it. If you do not provide the correct employee name and SSN on Form W-2, you may owe a penalty unless you have reasonable cause. See Publication 1586, Reasonable Cause Regulations and Requirements for Missing and Incorrect Name/TINs, for information on the requirement to solicit the employee's SSN.
From IRS Publication 1586:
VII: FORM W-2 SSN SOLICITATIONS
This section specifically applies the above rules to employers. An employer must make an initial solicitation for the employee’s SSN at the time the employee begins work. The initial solicitation of the employee’s SSN may be made in person, by oral request, or by written request. The SSN may also be requested through other communications, by mail, telephone, or other electronic means. The employer may rely in good faith on the number provided by the employee and use it in filling out the employee’s Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.
An employer has an obligation to ask for Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate, from a new employee. Under section 3402(f)(2)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code, an employee must provide a signed Form W-4 (or a substitute form) on commencement of employment, stating the number of withholding exemptions claimed by the employee.
Since the employee is required to furnish Form W-4 to the employer on commencement of employment, Form W-4 may be used for the initial solicitation of the employee’s SSN. An employer who retains the Form W-4 in his/her records will be able to document that an initial solicitation of a TIN was made, verifying that s/he acted in a responsible manner.
Employers have the responsibility to file correct information on their employees’ Forms W-2. Failure to do so may result in a penalty of $50 per incorrect Form W-2. However, the penalty will not apply to any failure that an employer can show was due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect. Generally, employers want to demonstrate that the failure to provide correct information was due to an event beyond their control or that there were significant mitigating factors. They also want to demonstrate that they acted in a responsible manner and took steps to avoid the failure.
About two years ago, I had a situation in which a person did not use anything with their SSC on it for their I-9 and they escaped somewhere in the course of their first day of training without doing a W-4. Their phone number didn't work and we got a letter from the IRS asking for their social and it made a reference to a copy of their SSC. I called our counsel and he found somewhere in the regs that the IRS said they could fine you $50 a crack for not having the copies but he expressed some doubt as to their authority to be able to require that.
I have checked Pub 15 circular E for '08 and '09 and it has the more wishy washy language but I found some governmental and education websites with policies citing the IRS with different language, suggesting it is a recent (in geological or regulatory terms) change. For example:
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/news/efte/verification_of_social_security_numbers.html