Our Intern Bianca Works with ISDH

For the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to work with the Department of Health (ISDH). During my time here I learned about I-9 forms and that they are used to verify employment and to protect employees because an employer cannot ask for certain documentation to verify employment. Common documents used by employers to verify employment are social security numbers. My main project was to complete an audit of the I-9 files for ISDH employees.  In addition to spending time working on I-9 forms I had an opportunity to sit in on an employee relations issue and an accommodation and also complete benefit packets for individuals who are out on leave.

As stated above, my main project consisted of going through ISDH employee files and looking for a completed a I-9. While doing this is I ran into some issues as some were missing. After further investigation, I found that this was mostly due to employees who were hired before November of 1986 and were not required to complete this form at that time. For the employees who began state employment after 1986,  I found that a possible reason why they were missing was because that employee transferred to ISDH from a different agency.

Another wonderful opportunity I had was to sit in on an employee relations issue. The issue came from an employee who was concerned about working in a hostile work environment. To help solve the issue the employee was recommended to call SPD’s employee relations hotline or fill out a form to have an investigation completed.

I also had firsthand experience with benefits. For this project, I had to compile packets containing information pertaining to the upcoming benefit’s open enrollment for individuals who were out on leave and then mail these packets to their home addresses.  During open enrollment, employees are allowed to update their insurance policies.

In addition to working on an employee relations issue I had an opportunity to sit in on an accommodation request. An employee was concerned about her working environment affecting  her health. The employee was advised to complete a J.A.N. form and schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss this form. By sitting in on this accommodation I learned that J.A.N. stands for Job Accommodation Network and how important it is that all employees’ needs are being meet to lead to better performance.