That is a federal offense to hire someone with another's ID.
The company is at fault.
BS.
Having been in payroll and HR for well over 25 years I can tell you about how the I9 and E-verify process works and more precisely how it often doesn't work or work as intended or more importantly how people think it works.
A new hire comes in and fills out an I9. I have to personally see the documents presented as verification of identity and eligibility to work in the US and I enter the information from the documents on the form and sign attesting to the fact I saw the documents. And then the form gets filed in a file cabinet or a binder waiting for the day when I may or may not ever be audited by the Fed's - DHS.
I am not a forensic document expert nor am I expected to be. Keep in mind that some of the I9 documents that are acceptable are not necessarily documents most of us, even employers, are familiar with such as a Native American tribal document or a Form I-197, U.S. Citizen ID Card – I can look up what the documents are supposed to look like on this website:
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documentsBut how am I to know those documents are fake? Would you be able to know if any of those documents are real or forgeries by just looking at them?
Unless something like a SS card or driver's license or passport is an obvious fraud where the picture is obviously not of the person presenting it, and I mean a very, very obvious fake, or the hire tells me the documents are fake or I or the company facilitated giving the hire fake documents or entered false information on the I9 for the purpose of hiring someone not eligible to work in the US, I and my company are off the hook, we’ve done our due diligence.
As to E-Verify, only if I work for an employer who voluntarily uses the system or is required to as a Federal contractor or required by the state (in PA it is only required some public works contractors and subcontractors) I enter the information from the I9 in the E-Verify website and wait for a response, and sometimes wait and wait.
Should E-Verify come back with a mismatch of name and SSN (and that’s all they really check for) I have to let the employee know and give them an opportunity to appeal. And FWIW there are sometimes false mismatches. During the appeal process I have to keep the person employed because according the Fed’s, I cannot discriminate or make a determination on the authenticity of the documents or the SSN on my own.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-employers-should-do-after-e-verify-issues-tentative-nonconfirmation-employee.htmlhttps://www.marketplace.org/2018/02/02/e-verify-might-not-be-all-its-cracked-be/FWIW, the only time I had a newly hired employee not able to on their first day of work provide me with I9 documents (either 1 from List A like a passport that shows both identity and citizenship or 2 documents: 1 one from List B that shows identity such as a state issued driver’s license and 1 that shows eligibility to work in the US from List C such as a SS card, although those are not the only acceptable documents and I cannot dictate what documents the new hire provides as long as it matches the ones on the lists), it was an older man, someone obviously a US born citizen who had worked for his previous employer for over 40 years that had just gone out of business and had never had to complete an I9 as that had been his one and only employer and when he was hired some 40 years ago, there was no such thing as the I9.
He had a valid PA driver’s license but had lost is SS card years ago, didn’t have his certified birth certificate and never had a passport as, as he told me, he’d never been outside of Lancaster Co PA, except for some 40 years ago when he and his bride went to Niagara Falls on their honeymoon for a weekend.
I felt so bad for him when I told him that unless he could provide a document from List C, he’d be terminated after 3 days. I thought he was going to cry. FWIW he’d never in 40 years with his previous employer missed a day of work and had never prior to this been unemployed.
So I looked up the closest SSA office and facilitated a call with them and the employee on how he could get a replacement SSA card ASAP. I also found information on where he could order a certified copy of his birth certificate with the PA Div of Vital Records on line. I also spoke to his supervisor and the HR Director and we told him we would pay him up to a full 8 hours for the next day while he went to the local SSA office for the purpose of obtaining a replacement SS card.
It all turned out OK in the end as he was able to provide a document showing he had applied for a replacement SS card and that is sufficient for the I9 as long as it was a receipt for an application to replace a lost, stolen, or damaged document. The receipt is only good for 90 days but he was able to provide his replacement SS card before then.
