President’s Pen
by Andrea Cranfill, SPHR

• Continue to provide support to local business partners and job seekers in resume writing and interview skills
• Redesign HRACI’s website and online resources for members
• Improve member retention by engaging members and enhancing networking opportunities
• Improve the quality of educational programming with a focus on topics that support the HR body of knowledge as well as have 75% of our programs approved for recertification credits
• Strengthen the special interest group steering committee to generate additional programs and sponsorship opportunities
• Develop a succession plan for board and volunteer leadership

It’s our volunteers who make our chapter strong and we are pleased to announce the following members who were elected at our October meeting to serve a two-year term on the Board of Directors:

President: Cherilyn Stephens, PHR

Cherilyn is an HR Generalist at Sallie Mae and has worked in human resources for more than 10 years. She currently serves on the board as President-Elect and previously served on the board as Director of Membership. Cherilyn has also been actively involved as a certification study group facilitator helping prepare members for the PHR/SPHR exam. She holds a B.S. from Ball State University.

President-Elect: Brian Cox
Brian is a graduate of Bradley University with a degree in Human Resources. He is the Operations Manager for U.S. Recruiting and Staffing at Eli Lilly and Company. Brian currently serves on the board as Director of Special Interest Groups, served as Director of Sponsorships, and was founder and President of the Employment Management Association Recruiting & Retention Forum (now EMA Indiana). Brian also is an active volunteer on the state conference committee.

Vice President of Programs: Helena Masters, PHR
Helena has worked in the HR profession for 18 years. She received her B.S. in Supervision from Purdue University and M.S. in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. Helena most recently served on the board as Vice President of Membership and has been an active volunteer on the Professional Development committee.

Secretary: Toni Thompson, PHR
Toni is the Director of Business Development and Quality Assurance for Goodwill Industries. She currently serves on the Membership Committee and holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in social work.

Director of College and Community Relations: Scott Kincaid, SPHR
Scott is Vice President of Professional Services at CREW Technical Services. He has a B.A. in telecommunications from Indiana University. Scott is a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), SHRM, and The Alliance Forum for Company Leaders sponsored by Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at IU’s Kelley School of Business.

Director of Volunteer Management: Tami Murphy
Tami is a Director at Temporary Avenue LLC. She has been an active member of the Membership Committee since 2003 and currently serves as the Volunteer Recruitment Coordinator for the chapter. Tami holds a B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Ball State University.

Director of Diversity: Erin Brothers
Erin is a Recruiter at Hancock Regional Hospital and previously worked as an Employment Specialist for Easter Seals Crossroads. She is pursuing a Masters in Public Affairs at IUPUI and holds a B.A. in Integrated Communication from Butler University. Erin’s volunteer experience includes being a Torchbearer for the United Way of Central Indiana, serving as President-Elect for the Indiana Association of Health Care Recruiters, and being a member of the National Association for Health Care, Indiana Society of Healthcare Human Resource Association, and Indiana Area Health Education Center.

Director of Legislative Affairs: Dennis Stull, SPHR
Dennis is a recruiter with Kelsey & Associates focusing on the hospitality and food/beverage industries. He holds a B.S. and MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University and has over 13 years of human resource management experience including manufacturing, energy, retail, and restaurant services. Dennis has volunteered on the Legislative Affairs committee.

The following members will comprise the rest of the 2007 Board of Directors:

• Andrea Cranfill, SPHR, Past President
• Debbie Williams, CPA, SPHR, Treasurer
• Jennifer Lange, PHR, Director of Certification
• Susan Martin, Director of Communication
• Patti Daniels, PHR, Director of Sponsorship
• Pam Dolas, PHR, Director of Membership

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at president@hraci.org.

Andrea Davis Cranfill, SPHR

by Jennifer Lange

D. Michael Wallman, a partner at Rund, Wallman & Robbins, LLP, provided information to our chapter in October on I-9s as a part of our Annual Legislative Update. A lot of us are familiar with I-9s, but are we confident that we are doing what needs to be done with them?

The Employment Eligibility Verification process was introduced in 1986. The purpose of the I-9 form is to determine if a person is who they say they are AND proves his/her right to be here and right to work. As a result, every US employer is responsible for completion and retention of the I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. There are two (2) parts to the form. Section one (1) is completed by the employee and section (2) is completed by the employer.

In order to complete section two (2), the employer must verify the employment eligibility (for both US citizens and noncitizens) and identity documents presented by the employee and record the document information on the I-9 form within three (3) business days of the date employment begins. There are several types of documents that “count” as acceptable documents and some of the most common ones from all three (3) lists are: current or expired US Passport (List A), permanent resident card with photograph (List A), driver’s license or ID card issue by a state or outlying possession of the US (List B), voter’s registration card (List B), US military care or draft record (List B), US social security card issues by SSA (List C), and original or certified copy of a birth certificate issued by a state bearing an official seal (List C). Every employee either needs one document from List A OR one document from List B and one document from List C.

Question: May I accept a photocopy of a document presented by an employee?
Answer: No. Employees must present original documents. The only exception is an employee may present a certified copy of a birth certificate.

Question: Should employers keep copies of the documents used to complete section two (2) of the form?

Answer: You may keep copies, but the law does not require that you do—the law only requires that you keep the completed I-9 form. For more information, please contact your legal counsel or Michael Wallman.

All I-9s should be filed in a file other than the personnel file. It is a good idea to keep all of your I-9s in a file together and separate them into three (3) sub-files. One section should be for those who you never need to see again (i.e. don’t have any time sensitive data on them). Another section should be for terminated employees that you can purge according to the records retention regulation. Finally, the last section should be for those who need to be reverified (i.e. are time sensitive).

Remember, the form must be kept by the employer either for three (3) years after the date of hire or for one (1) year after employment is terminated, whichever is later. The forms must be available for inspection by the authorized U.S. Government officials (i.e. ICE, Department of Labor).

Question: Should you destroy the I-9 documents either three (3) years after the date of hire or for one (1) year after employment is terminated, whichever is later?

Answer: The government gives employers the ability to destroy them, therefore, go with their recommendation and destroy the documents when you are able to. However, if you are not comfortable doing this (or your management team isn’t), please consult your legal counsel or Michael Wallman.

“No-Match” Letters

“No-match” letters were a hot topic during Michael’s presentation. Some of us aren’t familiar with the “no-match” process, so here is a quick summary. “No-match” letters are official letters received by employers from the federal government notifying the employer that their information about an employee(s)—usually name or social security number—does not match the information that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has in their records for an employee(s). The purpose of this communication is to let employers know that they need to verify work eligibility for the employee(s) and for the SSA to correctly credit the employee(s) social security account. Individuals can appear as a “no-match” after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and SSA compare information that the employers send (usually W-2 information) to the information that DHS/SSA has on file. Take these letters seriously!

Question: What is the employer to do if they receive a “no-match” letter?

Answer: The letter will tell the employer if the “no-match” letter is a result of either a social security number that didn’t match or name. A proposed new rule requires then that once the employer receives the letter, employers must verify and correct any mismatched information within 60 days.

Michael recommends that if you, as the employer, receive a “no-match” letter—contact the employee(s) and let him/her know why you received a “no-match” letter (i.e. social security number or name) and instruct him/her to get this cleared up with the SSA. Once the employee gets the issue straightened out with SSA, just update/reverify the information on the I-9 form (section three (3)) within three (3) days. He also recommends that you keep these “no-match” letters. Later, they can be shown as a paper trail and that you exercised good faith in trying to get any issue(s) resolved. If you have any specific questions about the “no-match” letters, consult your legal counsel or Michael Wallman.

Bottom line, complete I-9s for all employees within three (3) business days of their employment beginning and if you get a “no-match” letter—respond promptly by letting the employee know that one was received, advise him/her to go to SSA and get it cleared up, and reverify his/her eligibility to be employed with your organization. The I-9 form doesn’t take long to complete, but if you don’t complete it or complete it incorrectly—there will be consequences.

After doing a little research on the internet (http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/EEV.htm), the following questions/answers might be helpful too:

Question: Can I fire an employee who fails to produce the required document(s) within three (3) business days?

Answer: Yes. You can terminate an employee who fails to produce the required document(s), or a receipt for a replacement document(s) (in the case of lost, stolen or destroyed documents), within three (3) business days of the date employment begins. However, you must apply these practices uniformly to all employees. If an employee has presented a receipt for a replacement document(s), he or she must produce the actual document(s) within 90 days of the date employment begins.

Question: What happens if I properly complete a Form I-9 and the ICE discovers that my employee is not actually authorized to work?

Answer: You cannot be charged with a verification violation; however, you cannot knowingly continue to employ this individual. You will have a good faith defense against the imposition of employer sanctions penalties for knowingly hiring an unauthorized alien unless the government can prove you had actual knowledge of the unauthorized status of the employee.

Question: What is my responsibility concerning the authenticity of document(s) presented to me?

Answer: You must examine the document(s) and, if they reasonably appear on their face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting them, you must accept them. To do otherwise could be an unfair immigration-related employment practice. If a document does not reasonably appear on its face to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting it, you must not accept it. You may contact your local ICE office for assistance.

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by Ivory Shields, HRACI Membership Committee

The New Year is fast approaching and the time has come to renew your HRACI membership. Please join us for another outstanding year of great programs, networking and professional development!

HRACI values your membership and can help you meet your professional goals in several ways. We announced at renewal time in 2005 that we would have many new improvements in 2006. We met those goals and will continue to improve in 2007. Specifically, we have:

• More ‘HRCI Approved’ programs, which enables our members to earn recertification credits toward PHR and SPHR certification.
• Monthly topics presented by local and national speakers that are pertinent and of concern to HR professionals.
• More networking events at various locations in greater Indianapolis.
• Invitations to attend events of our special interest groups, such as the Employment Management Association (EMA) and HR Consultants Forum at no additional cost.
• PHR/SPHR certification classes to help you prepare for exams.
• Full access to our enhanced website
• The opportunity to post HR job opportunities for your organization at a discounted rate and to help in your personal job search.

Special Interest Groups (SIGS) are incluided in your HRACI membership. To attend their meetings, follow the links below.

HR Consultants Forum:
Sales Skills for the Non-Selling Professional

Speaker: Bill Caskey, President of Caskey Achievement Strategies

Bill has over 19 years in working with B2B sales teams. He combined his knowledge of sales practices with extensive work in the area of mental readiness to write Same Game New Rules, a sales book used by companies all over the world to train their sellers.

Bill has worked with a wide range of companies from CPA firms to logistics providers to medical device resellers.

Tuesday, November 7
7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
No charge for HRACI Members but you must register

Right Management
8425 Woodfield Crossing, Suite 200
Indianapolis

Register Here
Or RSVP to Carolyn@mprecords.com or call (317) 841-3236.

Click here for more information about the HRACI SIG: Constultants Forum.

EMA Indiana Meeting:
Managing Diversity at WellPoint

Friday, November 10
7:30-9:00 a.m.

Right Management
8425 Woodfield Crossing,
1st Floor West Conference Room
Indianapolis

No charge for HRACI Members. Please RSVP by November 6 to Sakeenah.Hackett@OneAmerica.com

Click here for more information about the HRACI SIG: Employment Management Association.

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On November 8, 2006 there will be a seminar, Pandemic Planning for Indiana Business, at The Oak Hill Mansion, 5801 East 116th St. in Carmel.

Classes will cover topics including: Pandemic Flu: An Overview, Preventions and Precautions in the Workplace, DHS Ready Business Course, Pandemic Preparedness for Business, Building a Team and a Plan, Employer's Responsibilities: Insurance, Benefits and Legal Issues. Speakers include experts from IDOH, Purdue University, Baker & Daniels LLP and Gregory and Appel Insurance.

A buffet lunch will be served. This seminar has been approved by HRCI for 6 recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification. A certificate of completion is also awarded to all attendees through the Extension Disaster Education Network, Purdue University. Registration closes on Nov. 5. For more information go to http://www.responderseventgroup.com/Avian_flu_Conference.html

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Joyce Wick, PHR
Robert H Gross
Abigail Brammer
Sean Reaves
Jewell L Carter
Christine Green
Cathi A Kiger
Carolyn DeAngelis
Lisa Summerour Dawson
George Raymond

Bill Evans
Michelle Schmidt
Jessica Hooley
Maureen Pettypool
Leena Thakkar, PHR
Chris Woolard
Marc E Carlson
Micheal Bryant
Priscilla Crumble
Julie P Milburn