Caring for Staff and Volunteers

Legal Counsel > For Congregations > Caring for Staff and Volunteers

How do we best care for our people?

Does your congregation have its ‘I-9’s in order?

Under federal law, all employers—including congregations, synods and church organizations–must have a form on file that verifies the employment eligibility and identity of each employee.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act requires all U.S. employers to complete the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9) for all employees, including U.S. citizens. There are no exceptions! There are many documents that have been approved to establish employment eligibility. Be careful to note which documents are needed alone and which ones are needed in combination.

U.S. passport
driver’s license
social security card
certified copy of birth certificate
permanent resident card

The Bureau of U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has primary responsibility for enforcing these laws. You will find the I-9 forms and other useful information on their Web site.

Employment Screening

Have a job application completed
Ask for references
Ask for previous employment references
Make sure you call the references and make written notes of the calls for your files.
See ELCA job application sample

Background Checks

You can do a background check yourself or hire a service to do it for you. Two background check companies, ChoicePoint, through VolunteerSelect Plus and Oxford Document Management Company (Oxford), are offering ELCA organizations and institutions at competitive fees for their services. Most of this information is public record and can be retrieved online.

Background Checks can be done to:

verify name and address and previous addresses

verify previous employers

verify Social Security number

verify educational history or professional license

verify military service

search criminal records

search civil records

search sexual offender / terrorist databases

search driving violation records

Use of Computers

Policy or procedures for the use of the internet and computers at our congregation?
Sample Electronic Communication Policy Statement