Effective immediately, employers must use the newly issued version of the I-9 form to verify and document new and rehired employees’ identities and work authorization, and to reverify existing employees’ expiring work authorization. The new I-9 form states a revision date of July 17, 2017 on the lower left corner of the form. There are no substantial changes with the new form. It added Consular Reports of Births Abroad as an acceptable List C work authorization document. And it combined all certifications of reports of births issued by the Department of State into one acceptable List C work authorization document. The new I-9 form can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.
The USCIS also published a new I-9 Handbook for Employers, which can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/handbook-employers-m-274. The Handbook provides detailed guidance to employers on completing the I-9 form and provides illustrated examples of acceptable documents.
As mentioned above, this new I-9 form must be completed for each new hire and rehire. It also must be used to reverify existing employees with expiring work authorization documents. In the case of the latter, the new I-9 form should be stapled to the previously completed I-9 form.
The Federal Government has increased its I-9 scrutiny and audit activities. It is, therefore, advisable for employers to proactively audit their I-9 practices and records and correct any errors, before a government audit. There are many ways to properly, proactively correct I-9 errors.
If you have any questions about this e-alert or I-9’s, please contact Berin Romagnolo.
This Alert is provided for information purposes only, and does not constitute legal advice. According to Mass. SJC Rule 3:07, this material may be considered advertising. ©2017. Posternak Blankstein & Lund LLP. All rights reserved.
Up Next...
