“I have to keep them employed while they contest, if they choose to do so.”
That’s nuts! And by the time you get to those forms I suppose you have already given them the job. I wonder if those forms could be part of the application process, so if they look fishy you dump the application in the garbage along with all the ones that don’t meet your qualifications?
I use part-time helpers in my work - but they are all college or recent graduates in environmental type studies - so not the typical stomping grounds of illegals. Still though - I go through the paperwork checks.
The way it works is that the employer must have the newly hired employee complete the I9 and the employer is to view those original documents in person within 3 days of their DOH. E–Verify also has to be completed within the first 3 days after the DOH but not before the DOH. It is actually illegal to ask an applicant or someone you have made a job offer to, to provide the I9 documents prior to their first day of work and you cannot ask for them as part of the job application.