February 3, 2010 | Announcements

Employment Verification Forms Required

New procedure ensures that employees are eligible to work at Northwestern

Eugene Sunshine, senior vice president for business and finance, and Daniel Linzer, provost, demonstrate the new E-Verify program. Photo by Peter Barreras

EVANSTON, Ill. --- All current and future Northwestern employees -- except for those hired before Nov. 7, 1986, and foreign nationals working outside the U.S. - are required to complete the new electronic Form I-9 to comply with E-Verify federal contractor regulations.

Put into effect Sept. 8, 2009, the E-Verify federal contractor rule reinforces the policy that the U.S. government does business with companies that have a legal workforce.

As part of this implementation, Human Resources rolled out the electronic Form I-9, which interfaces with E-Verify, to ensure that existing employees as well as new hires are eligible to work at the University.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) operates the E-Verify system. Through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Internet-based system enables employers to verify the employment eligibility of their workforce, regardless of citizenship.

Based on the information provided by the individual on his or her Form I-9, E-Verify checks information electronically against records contained in DHS and SSA databases.

Paper I-9 forms are no longer being accepted for new hires. All existing employees, even if they recently filed a paper form, will be required to complete an electronic Form I-9 according to a rollout schedule (see link below) created by HR.

For more information, the verification schedule by school or unit and FAQs, go to http://www.northwestern.edu/hr/payroll/E-Verify.html