Assigning the I-9 Signatory

Purpose

An Employer Signatory is the specific employer user designated to complete and sign Section 2 of Form I-9 on behalf of your organization. The assigned signatory is the user UZIO notifies and expects to complete Section 2, which is what gives the task a clear owner and keeps E-Verify notifications going to the right person. An Employer Admin can reassign the signatory at any time. This article explains how to configure a default signatory, set one per assignment, and change it later.

Who can do this: An employer user with Full Access to the employee's documents, or an Employer Admin.

Configure the default signatory (Document Library)

The default signatory for all future I-9 assignments is set in the Document Library.

1. Go to Documents > Document Library.
2. Locate the I-9 Form in the list.
3. Click the three-dot (…) menu next to it and select Configure.
4. In the popup, select the Employer Signatory from the dropdown:
• A specific employer user — all active employer users appear, each with their email in brackets.
• Select (blank) — leave unset; no default is pre-filled.
5. Click Save.

Set the signatory when assigning the form

The default (if set) is pre-filled at each assignment and can be changed for that one assignment without affecting the master setting:

• From the Document Library: The assignment popup shows the configured default pre-filled. Change it for this assignment, or leave it blank.
• From an employee's profile: The effective-date popup includes the Employer Signatory field with the default pre-filled.
• During prospect self-onboarding setup: When a self-onboarding journey includes the I-9 form, clicking Next or Save triggers a signatory popup. The selected signatory applies to the I-9 forms assigned to prospects going through that journey.

Change the signatory after assignment

You can still change the signatory after an I-9 is assigned, as long as the form status is not Completed or Cancelled.

Who can change it: Only employer users with Full Access to the employee's documents, and Employer Admins.

Where:

• Employee profile: Employee's profile > Documents tab > locate the I-9 form > Change Employer Signatory.
• Employees' Documents: Employees' Document > I-9 > [Employee Name] > Change Employer Signatory.

A popup opens where you can select a new signatory or remove the existing one entirely.

What assigning a signatory actually does

Two things, both of which matter operationally:

• It sets who UZIO notifies. When the employee finishes Section 1 and the I-9 moves to Pending with Employer, the prompt to complete Section 2 goes to the assigned signatory. Without a signatory it goes to the employer user who assigned the document.
• It sets who is expected to sign. The signatory's name is pre-populated as the Section 2 signer. UZIO records whoever actually signs Section 2 on the I-9 record.

An Employer Admin can reassign the signatory at any time, for as long as the form is not Completed or Cancelled. A signatory who is away, has left, or was set in error is never a dead end.

Notifications

When Section 1 completes and the I-9 moves to Pending with Employer, a notification prompts the employer to complete Section 2.

E-Verify status-change notifications (Photo Match, Tentative Non Confirmation, and so on) work slightly differently, and the difference matters when you're chasing a case:

One signatory can be assigned per employee per I-9 document.

Common problems

The wrong person is getting the I-9 notifications

For the Section 2 prompt, the recipient is the assigned signatory. When none is set, it is the employer user who assigned the document, with the Employer Admin as fallback. Change it with Change Employer Signatory on the employee's I-9; the new signatory receives notifications from that point on.

If the problem is specifically that nobody is being chased about an open E-Verify case, changing the signatory will not fix it. Reminders follow the case creator, not the signatory. See E-Verify Automated Reminders.

The signatory left the company

Every I-9 that person was assigned to is still pointing at them: they are the user UZIO notifies, and their name is the one pre-populated as the signer. Nothing is lost, but nobody is being prompted. An Employer Admin can reassign the signatory at any time. Work through the affected employees and set a new signatory on each with Change Employer Signatory. Remember that the Document Library default only affects future assignments, so updating the default does not touch the forms already out there.

I changed the default in the Document Library and nothing happened

That is expected. The Document Library default applies to future assignments only. I-9 forms already assigned keep the signatory they were given, because the signatory is stored on the assigned document itself. Change those individually.

Can a signatory be removed entirely after assignment?

Yes. Change Employer Signatory offers a remove option. The I-9 then behaves as if no signatory had been set: the Section 2 prompt goes to the employer user who assigned the document, and any employer user with access to the employee's documents can complete Section 2.

Does this apply to documents other than the I-9?

This article covers Form I-9 only. If you need a designated employer signer on another document type, ask UZIO Support whether that is available for your account.

Still stuck?

Signatory changes on the I-9 are self-service. Contact UZIO Support only if Change Employer Signatory is not offered on an I-9 whose status is not Completed or Cancelled, or if the assigned signatory has access to the employee's documents and still cannot open Section 2. Please reach out to us at support@uzio.com or call +1-571-601-1752. Send the employee's name and employee ID, the signatory's name, the I-9 status shown on the Documents tab, and a screenshot of what the signatory sees.

Related articles

• Reviewing and Verifying Form I-9 (Section 2)
• E-Verify Automated Reminders
• Reassigning a Form I-9
• Setting Up Self-Onboarding