Recruiting & Rehiring Employees

RFCUNY’s hiring process requires the recruitment, verification of employment eligibility (E-Verify), and documentation of an employee.

Recruitment and Employee Classification

Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for recruiting individuals for projects administered by RFCUNY through its Personnel Vacancy Notice (PVN) system. A job title and job code are required for advertising a position through the PVN. The PVN system provides job classifications, as well as data for affirmative action reporting.

Classification of an employee’s status is based on the number of hours an employee works per bi-weekly pay period. An employee’s classification determines the benefits an employee is eligible for, and the fringe benefit rate charged to the sponsored award/grant.

The main employee classifications that may be recruited through RFCUNY’s PVN system include:

• Full-time (employee works 70 hours)
• Part-time A (employee works more than 38, but less than 70 hours)
• Part-time B (employee works 38 hours or less)

Onboarding

All new hire and rehire employees must complete their pre-employment portion/hire packet in the RFCUNY Onboarding system. The first step of this process is initiated by the Principal Investigator (PI).

• PI initiates hire packet. Hire packet can be found at Electronic Tools > RF Onboard > Create Packet.
• After the hire packet has been submitted by the PI, an email notification will be sent to the employee from “no-reply@rfcuny.org” with the subject “Complete RFCUNY Hire Packet”, inviting the employee to complete their pre-employment hire packet.

Note: If the employee does not receive the email notification, they should check their spam folder before contacting their PI.

Verifying Employment Eligibility: I-9 & E-Verify

Verification of employment eligibility is required through the I-9 Form before an employee begins working. RFCUNY validates the accuracy of the I-9 Form through the E-Verify system of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

A job offer must be made and accepted by an employee prior to initiating the I-9 Form and the E-Verify process.

• The employee must complete Section 1 of I-9 Form no later than the employee’s first day of employment.
• The employer must complete Section 2 of I-9 Form and E-Verify within three (3) business days of the date of hire of the employee. (The hire date is defined as the first day of work for pay.) The completion of Section 2 of I-9 Form requires the employee to provide supporting documentation as outlined on the I-9 Form.

Documenting an Employee

In addition to the I-9 Form, employees must review and acknowledge receipt of RFCUNY employment policies and procedures. They are required to electronically complete and sign the following documents:

• Notice and Acknowledgement of Pay Rate and Payday (must be signed on or before hire date)
• Background Check Authorization and Disclosure Notice
• RFCUNY Application for Employment
• IRS Form W-4
• Optional tax documents are IT-2104 Employees Withholding Allowance Certificate OR IT-2104E

Rehire

When hiring an employee who has previously worked for RFCUNY, contact Human Resources to determine whether the employee is considered a rehire and to verify rehire status and eligibility for employment in the U.S. A rehire cannot be reappointed until a completed rehire packet is submitted and processed by RFCUNY.

A rehire is defined as any employee of RFCUNY reappointed after a break in service lasting 120 or more days. The applicability is determined by the last timesheet date of the prior appointment and the start date of the new appointment. Upon an offer of employment, an employee must complete a rehire packet in the RFCUNY Onboarding System. A rehire packet is required to reactivate an employee’s record in RFCUNY’s HR database.

As part of the rehire procedure, an I-9 Form must be completed for all rehires. However, the type of I-9 Form depends on the status of the employee's current I-9 on file. It is important for a PI to consult with their respective Human Resources Personnel Coordinator to make that determination. Failure to verify the status of the employee's current I-9 may result in severe violations of the Department of Homeland Security regulations.