I(don't-know)9

A weird thing has been happening lately. Well, lots of weird things have been happening, but at this second I'm specifically talking about patrons coming in and asking me to help them fill out I-9 paperwork as an employer's "authorized representative."

The first time this happened was last fall, but I've had 3 or 4 additional requests since then. Apparently a requirement of the I-9 is that the employer (or their 'authorized representative') view the employee's actual physical ID and work authorization documents, which presents a problem for companies that don't have a local office. Apparently, companies are telling new employees to take their documentation and the form to a library and have the librarian be their representative.

Now that I've done a little research to verify that I really am qualified to sign people's I-9s (that is, that legally there are no special qualifications required, it can be anyone the employer agrees to), I don't mind doing this for people, but it's odd that I never saw a request like this for years and all of a sudden there's this spike. Maybe it's all one staffing agency and I just haven't noticed? Or maybe some government entity put out a bulletin advising employers to deal with this obstacle by using the employee's public library?

I was hoping one of the readers might know more. Any ideas? Also, does it seem like a privacy issue to be looking at people's social security cards?

P.S.: I investigated the government bulletin theory, but the closest thing I found was a first-page Google search result that included this image:

Source: https://www.ebiinc.com/resources/blog/i-9-verification-for-remote-employees