Employment Eligibility Verification For Your Food Truck

Did you know that any employer in the United States found guilty of hiring employees who are not authorized to work in the country may be subject to civil fines or criminal penalties? What does this mean for food truck owners who don’t use employment eligibility verification?

The penalties can be up to $3,200 per worker for a first offence up to a maximum of $16,000 per worker for a third offence. If you’ve spent any time paying attention to the current political discussion, you’ll understand that this is a serious issue.

The good news is that food truck vendors are not expected to be experts on immigration or the documents that establish employment eligibility authorization. Following a these simple steps, can ensure that your food truck is compliant with immigration laws.

Employment Eligibility Verification Tips For Food Trucks

Conduct regular internal I-9 audits

Having a consistently scheduled internal I-9 audit can demonstrate a good faith effort on the part of the food truck employer to avoid employment of unauthorized workers. It can also help head off any issues related to typos and spelling errors, missing or outdated information and expiration of List A, B, or C documents.

Participate in E-Verify

Use the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program. E-Verify compares information from the Form I-9 to data from the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration. It is a voluntary, free, fast service. An E-Verify case must be created for each hire no later than the third business day that employee starts to work for pay.

Photo matching services are also available if certain documents are presented by the employee. By participating in E-Verify, legally, it is presumed that the employer has complied with I-9 requirements.

Understand common employment eligibility documents

Employees must provide documentation to their employers to show their identity and authorization to work.

Permanent Resident Card: Form I-551.
J-1 Exchange Visitors: DS-2019.
F-1 (Academic) or M-1 (Vocational) Students: Form I-20.

The Bottom Line

Don’t risk your truck’s future by not using these simple employment eligibility verification tools. Not only do you risk fines or jail time, you but risk your other employee’s job security.

How do you check employment verification for your employees? Share your thoughts on this topic the comment section, our food truck forum or social media. Facebook | Twitter

About the Author: Richard Myrick

Richard Myrick is an architect by degree (Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, Michigan) who began his career in real estate development and architectural planning. In September of 2010 he created Mobile Cuisine Magazine to fill an information void he found when he began researching how to start a mobile hotdog cart in Chicago. Richard found that there was no central repository of mobile street food information anywhere on the internet, and with that, the idea for MCM was born. Richard also wrote the "Running a Food Truck for Dummies" available in bookstores everywhere and Amazon. You can reach out to Richard by email at: [email protected].