*By Helena Oroz
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a Form I-9 Employee Information Sheet. The Information Sheet is intended as an employee reference for common Form I-9 questions, such as “Which documents do I need to show my employer?” and “Can I get in trouble if I lie on the form?”
The Information Sheet is available here in English and Spanish.
Compared to the instructions on the actual Form I-9 (also an
improvement over the old Form I-9), the Information Sheet communicates
directly to the employee through a conversational question-and-answer
format.
Federal law requires every employer to complete a Form I-9,
Employment Eligibility Verification, for each new employee to verify
his or her identity and authorization to work in the United States.
(Reminder: all employers should be using only the newest edition of Form I-9, issued March 8, 2013.)
Additional guidance from USCIS for both employees and
employers is available on its “I-9 Central” web site. This guidance
seems clearer, more concise, and more user-friendly as compared to
previous years, and even includes instructional I-9 video vignettes
that employers can show to new employees.
While employers are not obligated to provide employees with
the Information Sheet or any information apart from the Form I-9
itself, doing so may help both employers and employees by saving time
and avoiding misunderstandings with respect to common I-9 questions.
The chances of employees reading this one-pager over a nine-page Form
I-9 are, mathematically speaking, quite good. It may not answer every
question or lead to perfect communication in the workplace, but we
think it’s a good start and a good idea.
*Helena Oroz
practices in all areas of employment law and has extensive experience
with Form I-9 compliance and auditing. For more information about the
Form I-9 Information Sheet or other I-9 questions, please contact Helena
at hot@zrlaw.com or 216.696.4441.
