whether a person has that authorization to work in the United States. (Most functions of the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service have been transferred to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and divided into separate agencies. INS immigration services are now part of the Bureau of Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) and INS enforcement activities are part of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the Directorate of Border and Transportation Security.) Employment verification is documented on Form I-9, available from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, I-9 Central. The law requires the employer to ensure that every employee completes Section 1 of Form I-9 at the time the employee begins work. The law also requires the employer, within three days of hire, to review the documents establishing the employee‘s identity and eligibility to work and to properly complete Section 2 of Form I-9. The documents that satisfy the verification requirements are listed on Form I-9. A self-employed person who is a sole proprietor need not complete a Form I-9 on himself or herself. If, however, the business owner is an employee of the business entity (i.e., an employee of a corporation), a Form I-9 is required. Employers must keep the verification forms on file for three years from the date of hire or for one year following the employee’s separation from service, whichever is later. The forms may be inspected by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. The administrative tasks associated with the preparation and storage of Form I-9 have become more flexible as a result of a new electronic signature and storage law passed in 2005. Public Law 108-390 amended Minn. Stat. Chapter 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act by authorizing the use of electronic signatures by employers and employees to attest verification of identity and eligibility documents when completing Form I-9; maintenance of I-9 forms in PDF format, rather than (or in addition to) the previously accepted paper, microfiche or microfilm formats; and conversion of existing paper I-9 forms into electronic formats. Sanctions for failure to comply with the law include warnings, cease and desist orders, and civil penalties ranging from $275 to $2,200 per violation. Total fines may exceed these amounts. Criminal penalties may be imposed for a pattern and practice of violations. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibit employment discrimination. Employers with four or more employees may not discriminate in the hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee of employees on the basis of the employee‘s national origin or citizenship status. In practice, this means that employers must treat all employees the same when completing Form I-9. Employers cannot set different employment eligibility verification standards or require that different documents be presented by different groups of employees. Employees can choose which documents they want to present from the lists of acceptable documents. An employer cannot request that an employee present more or different documents than are required or refuse to honor documents which on their face reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting them. An employer also cannot refuse to accept a document or refuse to hire an individual, because a document has a future expiration date. Penalties may be imposed upon violators. To minimize charges of discrimination, employers are encouraged to make hiring decisions irrespective of the national origin or citizenship status of applicants authorized to work in the United States. Questions like
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