What Your Employer Must Do, and What They Can’t
When Marco Reyes finally got his green card after years of working without status, one of the first things his employer did was ask him to “redo” his I-9 with his new document. It felt routine, maybe even reasonable. It wasn’t. That request was illegal, and it’s one of the most common ways employers overstep the rules that are supposed to protect workers like him. Understanding what your employer is required to do during the hiring process, and where their authority stops, is one of the most practical things you can know as an immigrant worker in California.
The I-9: What It Is and How It Works
Every employer in the United States is required to verify that a new hire is authorized to work. They do this using Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. You’ll complete it during your first few days on the job. Section 1 is yours to fill out. Section 2 is your employer’s responsibility, where they examine documents you present and record them.
The documents accepted for the I-9 fall into three lists. List A documents prove both identity and work authorization in a single document, things like a U.S. passport, a permanent resident card, or an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). List B documents prove identity only, like a state driver’s license or ID card. List C documents prove work authorization only, like a Social Security card or a birth certificate. You can present one document from List A, or one from List B and one from List C. Either combination satisfies the requirement.
Here’s the part that matters most: you choose which documents to present. Your employer cannot tell you which documents to show. They can’t insist on a green card when you’d rather show a driver’s license and Social Security card. They can’t demand a specific document from a specific list. If they do, that’s not diligence. That’s a violation of federal anti-discrimination law.
E-Verify: What It Is and What It Isn’t
E-Verify is an online system that checks the information from your I-9 against federal databases. Not every employer uses it. Some employers are required to because of government contracts or state mandates, but many private employers in California don’t participate. If your employer does use E-Verify, they should tell you, and you’ll typically see a notice posted in the workplace.
When E-Verify can’t confirm your work authorization, it issues what’s called a Tentative Nonconfirmation, or TNC. A TNC is not a finding that you’re unauthorized. It means there’s a mismatch somewhere, maybe a typo, a name change that hasn’t been updated, or a database lag. If you receive a TNC, your employer must promptly give you the Further Action Notice. You must decide within 10 federal government working days after E-Verify issued the mismatch whether you will take action to resolve it, and tell your employer your decision in that same window, as the federal E-Verify employee guidance lays out (as of June 2026). If you choose to contest, your employer refers the case and gives you a Referral Date Confirmation, which states the date by which you must contact DHS or visit an SSA field office to begin resolving the mismatch. Contacting the agency within that window is what starts the process, and it doesn’t mean the mismatch has to be fully resolved by then. That’s the federal E-Verify timeline as of June 2026, and you can confirm the current process through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
Your employer cannot fire you, suspend you, withhold pay, or otherwise take adverse action against you because you chose to act on a mismatch while your E-Verify case is still pending, as the federal E-Verify employee guidance spells out (as of June 2026). They also can’t use E-Verify selectively, running checks on some employees and not others based on what they look like or where they seem to be from. If you have a valid automatic extension of work authorization, E-Verify and the I-9 process should be handled consistently with that extension, but database delays and employer errors still happen.
If You Get a TNC
Don’t ignore it. Contact the agency identified in the TNC notice promptly. Keep copies of everything you submit. If the mismatch is a data error on the government’s side, it can usually be corrected, but you have to act within the deadline. If your employer pressures you to quit or threatens termination during this window, that’s a violation, and you have remedies available.
Document Abuse and Over-Documentation
Federal law doesn’t only require employers to verify work authorization. It also prohibits them from demanding more documentation than the I-9 requires, or specifying which documents you must show. This is called document abuse, and it’s illegal under the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provisions.
Document abuse shows up in predictable ways. An employer asks for a green card specifically, rather than accepting a valid List B and List C combination. An employer asks you to show “extra” documents beyond what the I-9 calls for, “just to be safe.” An employer accepts certain documents from some employees but not from others who look or sound different. All of these are violations.
The fact that an employer is nervous about compliance doesn’t make over-documentation legal. The I-9 process has clear rules. Asking for more than what those rules require is discrimination, even when it’s motivated by anxiety rather than malice. The effect on the worker is the same.
Re-Verification: When They Can and When They Absolutely Cannot
Re-verification is one of the most misunderstood parts of the I-9 process, and it’s where some of the worst employer overreach happens. Here’s the core rule: an employer may re-verify work authorization only when a document with an expiration date expires. They do this in Supplement B of the I-9 (formerly Section 3).
That sounds straightforward, but it creates a critical distinction. The expiration date on a Permanent Resident Card is the expiration date of the card, not the expiration of lawful permanent resident status. Because of that, a permanent resident’s authorization to work generally does not lapse when the card does, so an expired Permanent Resident Card by itself is not usually treated as a reason to reverify. If an employer raises this, it is worth checking the current I-9 reverification rules before assuming you have to redo anything.
This is worth saying plainly: if you are a lawful permanent resident who presented a Permanent Resident Card for the I-9, your employer cannot reverify your work authorization just because the card later expires. Your right to work as a lawful permanent resident does not expire with the card. An employer who insists otherwise may be misapplying the I-9 rules, and it is reasonable to ask them to point to the rule they think requires it.
For workers whose authorization is temporary, like those with an EAD tied to a specific status, re-verification is legitimate when the document expires. But even then, the same rules apply. You choose which acceptable document to present. Your employer can’t dictate which one. And if you’ve filed a timely renewal and are covered by an automatic extension, your employer should accept the receipt notice or other evidence of that extension as a valid document for re-verification.
If Your Employer Violates These Rules
Employer violations of I-9 anti-discrimination rules aren’t theoretical harms. They cost people jobs, wages, and peace of mind. If you believe your employer has committed document abuse, discriminated based on citizenship status or national origin during the hiring or verification process, or unlawfully re-verified your work authorization, you have options.
Federal Reporting
The Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) of the U.S. Department of Justice handles complaints about unfair documentary practices and citizenship status discrimination in the I-9 and E-Verify process. You can reach IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688. They offer assistance in multiple languages. Filing a charge with IER is free, and it doesn’t require a lawyer, though having one can help in complex situations.
California Remedies
California provides additional protections beyond federal law. State law prohibits retaliation against workers who assert their rights, including retaliation based on immigration-related threats. In California, it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against a worker for exercising labor rights by threatening to report the worker or a family member to immigration authorities or by misusing immigration-related practices against them. The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) handles employment discrimination complaints under state law, including national-origin discrimination, and may be an additional state-level remedy depending on the facts. For I-9 and E-Verify document abuse itself, the most direct federal enforcement route is usually the U.S. Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
For a broader view of workplace protections available in California, including wage and hour rights and anti-retaliation rules, see the labor rights page. If an employer’s behavior crosses into threats involving immigration enforcement, that’s a different level of concern, and the workplace rights and enforcement page covers what to know.
What to Document
If you suspect a violation, start keeping records now. Write down what was said, who said it, when, and whether anyone else was present. Save any written communications, texts, emails, or posted notices. If your employer asked for specific documents or refused documents you offered, note exactly what happened. These details matter if you file a complaint or consult a lawyer later. An employment or immigration attorney can help you evaluate whether what happened rises to a legal claim and what remedies are realistic.
California’s SB 294: New Protections Starting in 2026
California signed SB 294 into law in October 2025, and it adds new employer obligations that took effect in 2026. Both are designed to give workers more information and more protection during immigration-related enforcement actions in the workplace.
Annual Written Notice of Employee Rights (February 2026)
On or before February 1, 2026, and each year after that, employers must provide employees a stand-alone written workplace rights notice. This is not triggered by an inspection or enforcement action. It is an annual requirement. The notice must cover multiple categories of workplace rights, including workers’ compensation, notice of immigration agency inspections, protection against unfair immigration-related practices, constitutional rights when interacting with law enforcement at work, and labor organizing rights. The Labor Commissioner has posted model notices employers can use. If your employer did not provide this notice by the required deadline, they may be out of compliance.
Emergency Contact Designation (March 30, 2026)
Starting January 1, 2026, if an employee has asked the employer to notify a designated emergency contact, the employer must do so if the employee is arrested or detained at the worksite or, if the employer has actual knowledge, during work hours off-site, per the text of SB 294 (as of June 2026). By March 30, 2026, employers must give employees the opportunity to name emergency contacts and indicate whether that contact should be notified in that situation. This is separate from the standard emergency contact in a personnel file.
What This Doesn’t Cover
This page explains what employers are required to do and prohibited from doing during the I-9, E-Verify, and re-verification process. It doesn’t cover the specifics of how to get work authorization in the first place, which types of work permits exist, or what happens when your status changes. Those topics live on other pages in the work authorization section. And while this page touches on workplace enforcement, it doesn’t go deep into what happens if ICE actually shows up at your job. That’s covered on the workplace enforcement rights page.
Before You Do Anything
If your employer is asking for documents they shouldn’t be asking for, or re-verifying work authorization they have no right to re-verify, the single most important thing you can do is write down what happened while it’s fresh. Dates, names, exactly what was requested, exactly what you provided. That record is what makes every other option, filing a complaint, consulting a lawyer, asserting your rights, actually work. You don’t have to decide today whether to file anything. But you can’t recreate details six months from now that you could capture tonight.
The information on this page is general. Your situation may be different. Before making any decisions, talk to a qualified immigration attorney or accredited representative. Free and low-cost legal help is available in California, find options here.
