Dive Brief:
- Immigration reform is a major campaign issue in 2016, but as it stands right now, employers have existing regulations and laws to follow when it comes to hiring unauthorized workers, according to the Houston Business Journal.
- The Business Journal reports that under the current Immigration Reform and Control Act, employers must fill out and file an I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form for each new hire, and part of the form requires specific eligibility documents.
- Should an employer learn or suspect an employee is unauthorized, it's a serious issue with strict penalties, including both fines and, in some cases, criminal charges against an employer.
Dive Insight:
To stay within the legal boundaries, the Business Journal article offers some basic advice for employers, including making every new employee complete Form I-9 on the first day at work. If information is incomplete, give the worker three days to come up with a receipt for the needed document. If they provide it, then they have 90 days to deliver the actual document needed to finish the I9 form within the law.
Other suggestions include completing the I-9 with an employee once he or she is officially hired, not before an offer is accepted (the article offers several specifics related to how the form should be completed), and if an employee’s authorizing document expires, re-verification of the employee’s eligibility is a must.
Most of all, the Business Journal says it's smart to create a reminder system so employees with only a receipt are not forgotten and authorization documents do not expire without notice.
