Your new employee can work.
For I-9 purposes, you can accept a receipt for an application to replace a lost, stolen, or damaged document. The receipt only works for 90 days, though, after which your employee must present an original document or documents.
The important rules to remember are:
- the document must have been lost, stolen, or damaged (a receipt for an application to renew an expired document will generally not suffice*)
- the receipt must be an actual receipt, not just a printout confirming the individual’s information (the Social Security Administration sometimes issues SSN printouts that employees will try to present as receipts)
- the lost, stolen, or damaged document must be an acceptable I-9 document, and
- you must calendar to follow up with the employee within 90 days to review the original document(s).