Employers often
feel nervous about accepting I-9 documents for employment verification. Some
human resources officers feel the stress about getting it wrong. So, what kind
of care should employers exercise while reviewing the I-9 forms?
Well, the manual
states this: if documents reasonably
appear on their face to be genuine and relate to the person presenting them,
the employer must accept the documents.
Key words in the above statement are: reasonably, face,
and relate. If a candidate presents papers bearing a photo
identification that resembles the person presenting them, then the employer
need not worry. The test is “reasonableness”—what would a reasonable employer
do?
So, what to do?
Exercising reasonable care is a bit more complicated
than it sounds. The care exercised by a reasonable employer must be greater
than a random person off the street would exercise. But reasonable also doesn’t
mean that the employer act with the vigilance of a border patrol officer. As
long as the document presented resembles the person presenting, and on its face
(i.e., without the use of forensics) it appears genuine, and meets the other
elements of due care that an employer must exercise, the employer likely meets
the good faith compliance duty against any potential charges of knowingly
hiring an unverified or unverifiable candidate.
Review the employer's handbook published by the USCIS:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/m-274.pdf
Also, sign up for e-verify. Learn more about e-verify . If the automatic link does not work, click on: http://goo.gl/ormdO
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