I-9 Compliance – Payroll/HCM (Workday)

What Workday Provides

• Workday includes an I-9 management module as part of its HCM (Human Capital Management) suite.
• It automates form completion, electronic storage, reminders, and reporting for Section 1 (employee) and Section 2 (employer) of the I-9.
• It integrates with E-Verify so employers can electronically submit employment eligibility information to DHS/SSA directly from Workday.

What Employers Still Must Do

• Employers (or an authorized representative/agent) are still legally required to physically inspect original documents (e.g., passport, green card, driver’s license + SSN card) to confirm identity and work authorization.
• Workday can guide and record this process, but it does not itself verify authenticity of the documents—it only provides the workflow and compliance tracking.
• Liability remains with the employer: if the documents are fraudulent or improperly verified, the employer (not Workday) is responsible.

In Practice

• Workday processes and stores the I-9 form electronically, provides audit trails, and connects to E-Verify.
• Employers (or their designated agents) do the actual verification step — looking at the employee’s documents in person or via an approved remote I-9 inspection process.

In short:
Workday is a compliance and processing system, not a verifier. It manages the form and links to E-Verify, but the employer must do the real verification.

What E-Verify Actually Does

• Work Authorization Check:
  E-Verify compares the information from Form I-9 (name, date of birth, SSN, immigration document info, etc.) against records in DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and SSA (Social Security Administration) databases.
  • If the info matches, the system confirms the employee is authorized to work in the U.S.
  • If it doesn’t match, it returns a “Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)” and the employee has to resolve it.
• Social Security Number Validation:
  E-Verify checks the SSN provided against the SSA database. If the number is invalid, mismatched, or doesn’t belong to the employee, it will flag it.

What E-Verify Does Not Do

• It does not detect identity fraud if someone is using a real person’s valid SSN and name.
• It does not verify the authenticity of the physical documents (passport, green card, etc.) shown during the I-9 process — that’s still the employer’s job.
• It does not guarantee compliance on its own; it’s only part of the verification workflow.

So, in short:
E-Verify confirms work authorization eligibility and checks SSN validity against SSA, but employers must still visually verify documents during the I-9 process.