Employer asking for birth cert

partysis81

Hi all, looking for some advice.
My husband has come home from work today and said they've all been asked to bring their birth certificates or passports into work to be copied and kept on file, as they have consulted with their lawyers and its to do with companies employing illegal people. If immigration should turn up, they have proof that all their staff are legal.
Can they do this? I'm worried about identity theft??

lynzpower

Yes they can do this. Its a legal requirement that companies have to do due diligence to make sure that their employees are able to work here legally.

The employers are data controllers anyway as per the Data Protection Act, so they are subject to protecting data security under this act anyway.

What are you concerned they may do with the data?

They already have his name, address, DOB etc anyway surely?

Ive always had to bring in my passport or BC I have never been concerned as I know why they have to do it.

joyce63

I've had to take my passport to interviews for jobs I haven't ultimately got, so I don't think there is much to worry about. When I started my job a few months back, I had to let HR take a copy of my passport. I think it's becoming quite a standard, back-covering practice.

BitterAndTwisted

Not very efficient are they? They should have gathered all of this information and taken copies of the documents at the interview stage. Having the documents on file has been a legal requirement for over a decade. One wonders what else they have overlooked.

k66yla

I had to show my passport at work a couple of weeks back to prove I was eligible to work. I've been employed by them since 1988 apart from a few years off to have the kids.

DCFC79

It needs to be done, the docs are stored in a safe place so i cant see ID theft occuring. If he wants to not cause any issues then just let them copy the docs, ive always been asked for docs and had to get them copied and nothing untoward has happened ie ID theft.

vax2002

Crown copyright ?

Linus2864

Partysis81,

Obtaining and keeping evidence of an individual's right to work in the UK is pretty standard nowadays. Employers can be penalised if they unwittingly employ anyone who does not have the right to work.

As others have said, I'm surprised his employers haven't already done this - they could be employing anyone! He doesn't work for the Home Office or UK Border Agency does he?

anamenottaken

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Not very efficient are they? They should have gathered all of this information and taken copies of the documents at the interview stage. Having the documents on file has been a legal requirement for over a decade. One wonders what else they have overlooked.

Has it really?

Not having copies is not against the law as far as I know. Surely there would be a problem only if they were employing someone without the right to work in the UK.

Having copies is simply an attempt to have evidence of having done as much as reasonably practicable to prevent unlawful working. It could then be used in defence if they were employing someone who actually didn't have the right to work.

What is required is that they do behave reasonably in deciding whether someone is able to be employed. They could just keep a note that they have seen the evidence - noting a passport number for instance.

vax2002 has mentioned crown copyright. I know some of the background to that but the UKBA do say that having a photocopy of essential passport page would be acceptable evidence for defence!

LadyMissA

anamenottaken wrote: »

Has it really?

Not having copies is not against the law as far as I know. Surely there would be a problem only if they were employing someone without the right to work in the UK.

Having copies is simply an attempt to have evidence of having done as much as reasonably practicable to prevent unlawful working. It could then be used in defence if they were employing someone who actually didn't have the right to work.

What is required is that they do behave reasonably in deciding whether someone is able to be employed. They could just keep a note that they have seen the evidence - noting a passport number for instance.

vax2002 has mentioned crown copyright. I know some of the background to that but the UKBA do say that having a photocopy of essential passport page would be acceptable evidence for defence!

nothing the passport number does not prove someone has a working visa and what kind they have, however

wellused

The company that I work for used to routinely use employees NI numbers for identification purposes, consequently they used to appear on a great many documents. I thought this was peculiar as I was brought up to consider that a persons NI number was something to be kept confidential. Several years ago someone obtained a great many of these NI numbers and made fraudulent applications to the benefits agency, since then the company has reverted to using their own employee identification numbers system.