Form I-9: Employers' Scylla and Charybdis?
According to the Wikipedia entry, in Greek mythology Scylla and Charybdis were two sea monsters who were on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy. They were located close enough to each other so that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors. Avoiding Charybdis meant passing too closely to Scylla and vice versa. Passing between them was one of Odysseus’ adventures in the Odyssey.
In the interest of full disclosure: my origins are from an island in the Strait of Messina. But, I am not related to either Scylla or Charybdis.
I was reminded of the story by a post in the blog of the Capitol Immigration Law Group, LLC concerning issuance of a revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification ("New I-9 Form Released"). Employers are required to complete and maintain an I-9 on file for all new employees. The CILG post provides useful information about the form and its most recent revision.
The thought came to my mind that employers need to navigate carefully between the monsters of Non-compliance and Over-zealousness.
Immigration is such a hot button topic that I’ll preface further remarks by mentioning that in this blog our perspective is legal and managerial, not political.
Right on the first page of the I-9 instructions is a box warning that it is illegal to discriminate because of national origin or citizenship. The same instruction warns against one of the most common discriminatory practices: employers cannot specify which documents they will accept.
Employers’ focus, in the interest of compliance and avoidance of wasteful litigation or penalties, should be on learning the I-9 rules and implementing appropriate, non-discriminatory procedures but not going beyond the rules. If in doubt, consult an attorney.
Image from Wikipedia Commons:Odysseus In Front of Scylla and Charybdis by Johann Heinrich Fussli.
