The Department of Homeland Security has issued changes to the Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification. These changes will be in effect beginning April 3, 2009.

Please be aware of the following issues, regarding I-9s for new hires, and re-verifications for rehires and non-resident alien employees.

The I-9 Express system in use at Columbia complies with these changes and the I-9 Processing Centers have been updated on the changes.

If your department has a link to the paper I-9 form on your website, please update the information and links to refer people to the automated I-9 system, http://www.newi9.com. All new hires should be referred to this website in order to complete section 1 of the I-9 prior to going to an I-9 Processing Center to complete section 2.

The principal change is that expired documents will no longer be valid for verification purposes of identity of work authorization (this includes expired US Passports).

To assist our faculty and staff, and members of their households, with the complex situations they may be facing, Columbia University is pleased to announce that we’ve contracted with a new vendor—Harris Rothenberg, International (HRI)—to manage our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) (PDF). The EAP is available to faculty, researchers, administrators and staff who are eligible to receive medical benefits from Columbia. If you have questions, please call the HR Benefits Service Center at (212) 851-7000.

Additional resources for Manager-Self Service Users, including information about the recent upgrade in the new version of PAC. The upgrade resulted in minor changes that do not have any effect on functionality; we have created some reference materials to help you.