Wednesday, April 7, 2010

New I-9 Forms and Employment Authorization

I recently attended a Best Practices in Owning and Operating a Winery seminar and one of the sessions was about employment law. Within the immigration law section, they addressed current trends. One notable change was that on April 3, 2009 a new I-9 form was issued and is required for all U.S. employers. You can download the form from http://www.uscis.gov/i-9 The form was revised to reflect changes in the List of Acceptable Documents.

As an employer you are required to verify the documents presented with the I-9. Some guidelines on verifying the documents are that they must be viewed in the original form, that they correspond to the employee presenting them and that they appear genuine on their face. There are legal considerations if obvious forgeries are not caught. So, familiarize yourself with the acceptable documents and the information they contain. But as an employer you are not required to be a document expert. Examples of acceptable documents can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/m-274.pdf

The employer is required to retain the I-9 form for three years after the employee's date of hire or for one year after the employee's date of termination, whichever is later. It is advisable to not retain documents longer than the time required and to not retain copies of the supporting documents.

Employment Eligibility Verification applies to all employees actually hired and must be completed within three business days of the hire date. I-9s are not required for applicants, independent contractors, subcontractors or any individual that was hired before 11/7/86 who is continuing their employment and have reasonable expectations of continued employment.

I would like to thank Stoel Rives, LLP for hosting the seminar, and for the employment law information they provided. For more information on Stoel Rives, visit www.stoel.com.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Remembering a Friend: Nancy Tibbitts

Last month I attended the UC Davis Internship and Career Fair, an event I have participated in for many years. I missed a familiar face, and was very sad to hear that one of the career center staff, Nancy Tibbitts, a friend and mentor of mine, had passed away late last year. This revelation rocked me to the core. This woman had been so helpful in my career; helping me get my first on-campus research job, guiding me in my first few job decisions, suggesting career moves when I was relocating, and then as a colleague during my years in recruiting. I often called her to let her know about new positions I was recruiting for, and asked her to spread the word during a search.

Not only did Nancy assist me in my professional life, but we both shared stories about being working mothers of young children--from finding time to balance the needs of work with the real life needs of a crying, hungry baby or the juggling required of an active family. It was refreshing to check in with her, first to find out how she and the family was doing, and then to get to work on something I was needing her assistance with.

It is very sad for me that she passed away. I know I was only one of many people she helped, and in my mind she was and is indispensable. She was always happy and fun to deal with. I remember her telling me, "oh you have to take that job" and "of course you need to sign-up for an internship". Luckily I followed her advice which I often echo back to young, soon-to-graduate and recent-graduates who are figuring out their career path.

I have had a lot of great mentors in my life, and I truly count Nancy Tibbitts as one of them. I will always think of her fondly, and hope to help others in their careers like she helped me.

For others who worked with Nancy, visit her guest book on the UCD site. I send my heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

HR Professionals are Becoming key Board Members

For all of my Human Resource colleagues out there, thought you might like to know that many corporations are seeking out HR professionals to sit on their boards. Here's the article from the Wall Street Journal on December 14th by Joann Lublin. HR Executives Suddenly get Hot. If the link doesn't work, click on my facebook icon and it should route you to story.