Know Your Rights: E-Verify and Document Verification

What are my rights when I apply for work?
Some employers use a computer system called E-Verify to check your documents when you apply for work. An employer should only do this after he or she has offered you a job.

If the employer says your documents are not good, and this is wrong, tell the employer you want to appeal. She or he will give you a paper to sign. You have 8 business days to start to fix the problem by talking to the Social Security office or another office. While you are trying to fix the problem, your employer cannot fire you or take other action against you. Even if your employer does not use E-Verify, he or she should ask you to fill out an I-9 form and show documents that prove you are allowed to work in the United States. You have 3 days from the day you start work to fill out the I-9 and show your documents. You get to choose which documents to show from the list on the I-9 form.

What if I don’t have good documents?
If you have done any work for an employer, even if you don’t have good documents, the employer has to pay you for your work.

What can I do if my employer wants to check my documents after I start working?
If a document that you showed when you were hired expires, the employer can ask to see a new one (unless you showed a green card – you only have to show that once, even if it expires).

Otherwise, he or she should generally not ask you for new documents. You get to decide what documents to show from the list of documents on the I-9 form.

If your employer doesn’t want to accept your valid documents, or is asking you to show your documents after the hiring process has been completed, you may have a legal claim.