The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, claiming the center made unreasonable demands for employee eligibility documents from work-authorized immigrants seeking healthcare jobs.
The Justice Department claimed in a Dec. 6 news release that the center engaged in a pattern of demanding newly-hired non-U.S. citizens already authorized to work in the United States to provide additional documents issued by the Department of Homeland Security as further proof of their employment eligibility. The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burden on applicants based on citizenship status or national origin.
Notaries sometimes receive confusing or erroneous requests from employers regarding work eligibility documents. For example, though the USCIS I-9 form is not normally notarized, Notaries are sometimes asked to notarize or perform other non-notarial services on I-9 forms to verify employee work eligibility. The NNA recommends Notaries contact the appropriate state Notary agency or the NNA Information Services Hotline to confirm whether a request related to an I-9 form is lawful before proceeding.