BlogLine

You’ve Got Mail: E-mail Notifications Effective in E-Verify

7/8/13

By: Kelly Eisenlohr-Moul
Among the more significant changes in the 2013 Form I-9 is an optional field for the employee’s e-mail address.
If the employee supplies an electronic address, whether work or personal, the employer must use the address provided when initiating an E-Verify case.
US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (USCIS) recently announced the intended use for this electronic address:  electronically mailing tentative non-confirmations (TNC) to employees.
USCIS states that it will only send an e-mail to employees if:
• The employee provided a valid e-mail address in Section 1 of the Form I-9
• The employer is enrolled in E-Verify
• The employee received a TNC
TNCs occur when there is a mismatch between the data provided on the Form I-9 and the data contained in the E-Verify databases (supplied by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA)).  This feature may assist in notifying employees of their TNC and need to follow up with the DHS or the SSA.
Notably, employers will not be copied on these e-mail messages, and this new feature does not alleviate the employer’s obligation to provide employees with a notice of the TNC.
Finally, employees have eight (8) federal working days to contest the TNC.  They must be allowed to work as normal during this time period, or the employer could be subject to a charge of discrimination from the Office of Special Counsel.