My Employer Demanded a Copy of Our Driver's Licenses to Give to a Third Party

[djd]

My question involves business law in the state of: NY

Earlier this week my employer demanded a copy of our driver's licenses or Photo ID to give to an outside agency. They said if we didn't turn them over we wouldn't be able to work. I have been employed for over 3 years already.

I found out that the company is giving the copies to an outside security agency called Landmark security. I have no idea what they are doing with the information. My employer did not disclose this and only told us that it was because the company was being audited. Many of us believed it was an internal audit to check for illegal immigrants but now we learned that the information was given to a third party.

Did the company violate any privacy laws by not disclosing exactly how the information was to be used, and by saying that we would not be able to continue working if we refused to give the information?

[cbg]

No. In fact, they are required by law to see proof that you are eligible to work in this country and are entitled by law (though not required) to keep copies of the ID you show as such proof. What's more, they are not allowed by law to let you work if they do not have a record of such proof on file. If they did not have you complete an I9 for and ask you for such documentation at the time of hire, they were in violation of the law then. It's not impossible that they are now catching up for past transgressions in that area. Nothing in the law says they can't use a third party agency to assist them.

[Bubba Jimmy]

An employer would be in violation of the law if they demanded to see a specific identity document to satisfy the I9 requirement. An employee can produce any valid document listed as sufficient on the I9 form. Employers cannot tell them what specific document they have to provide. For example, a passport can be offered instead of a driver's license as proof of identity. The OP said "driver's license or other photo ID" so the company would still seem to be in the clear on this.

I believe a company can hire an outside security firm and provide that firm with copies of photo IDs of the company's employees so that the security firm can tell who is a legitimate employee of the company and who is not.