Human Resource Blog

Mississippi Discrimination Law

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Our HR person in Mississippi has instructed us to make copies of the driver’s license and Social Security card of new employees for their I-9. I thought that this was discrimination under the law. Who is right?

The Human Resources person is correct in this instance. Your misconception is entirely understandable, given the fact that the law forbids both the hiring of undocumented workers and discrimination in hiring based on, among other things, national origin, race, or color.

The HR person is also using “best practice” in telling you to confine the copying to the documentation of employees and not applicants. Copying the paperwork of either is legal, but in the case of applicants, the practice could open the door to charges of discrimination. It would be discriminatory, for example, to require copies of the documentation of an Hispanic applicant but not an applicant of some other ethnic group.

For that reason, many companies will hold off on making copies of documentation until the person is hired.

Firms use copies of documentation as proactive proof that they are not knowingly hiring undocumented workers. The documents should remain on file for 3 years after the hiring date or a year after termination, whichever is longer.

Keeping supporting documents also discourages managers from knowingly hiring friends who are undocumented workers.

While many companies are scrupulous to maintain such records, they also try to keep them in a filing cabinet separate from personnel records. This is another way of helping to insure against charges of discrimination against a worker because of ethnicity, national origin, color, or race.

On the one hand, the IRCA, or Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, makes it against the law to discriminate based on citizenship or national origin if a person is legally allowed to work in this country. On the other hand, the same Act slaps heavy fines on companies that hire undocumented workers.

The IRCA also requires the employer to show proof that all workers they hire are legally allowed to work in the U.S. The proof is the Employment Eligibility Verification and copies of the supporting documents. Employers may face fines of up to $200,000 per worker for repeat offenses. The enforcing agencies are the U.S. Labor Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. JH