As a business owner, safeguarding your company’s integrity and promoting a lawful and trustworthy workforce is essential. When hiring new employees, you’ll need to verify their identity and employment eligibility through Form I-9. Along with physically reviewing their documents, E-Verify streamlines the process by allowing you to confirm employment eligibility electronically, making it faster and more convenient.
Follow these six steps to use E-Verify for your business:
1: Enroll in E-Verify
You’ll need several pieces of information about your company for this task and sign a memorandum of understanding. If you have more than one location where you’ll be hiring, you can either choose to designate one site to create E-Verify cases for new employees for the whole company or enroll each site that will perform its own employment verifications.
2: Complete E-Verify Training
All employers who enroll and any users who will create cases must complete an E-Verify tutorial.
3: Create an E-Verify Case
Within 3 business days after a new hire’s first day, create an E-Verify case. To do this, you’ll input the information from sections 1 and 2 of the Form I-9.
4: Examine Documents
The employee must first transmit copies of the documents they plan to present. Then, during a live video call, complete the remote I-9 verification process by examining the documents to confirm they appear genuine.
5: Note the Use of E-Verify
Indicate you used the alternative procedure on Form I-9. This requires simply checking a box.
6: Keep Copies of All Documents
Make and retain clear and legible copies or electronic images of the documentation presented by employees for review in case of an audit.
Engaging in unlawful hiring practices can result in significant penalties, including fines of up to $3,000 per employee and possible imprisonment. While compliance with employment laws is essential for every employer, keeping up with the regulations can be both difficult and time-consuming.
Schedule a call to find out how Counter Point can protect your business and simplify your compliance processes.
