More Government Form I-9 Audits Coming Soon

Employers need to be aware ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is preparing to issue another round of Inspection Notices to businesses, demanding Forms I-9 and other employment eligibility documents. ICE is planning more worksite inspections in the last quarter of this year. To be able to accomplish this, ICE has added more agents and auditors, and is centralizing its auditing process. All of this adds up to the only logical conclusion, worksite audits are here to stay and employers must take notice.

If you think your business is immune from this process, think again. No business is exempt from a Forms I-9 audit and most employers who are inspected are caught totally off guard and unprepared.

When auditing an employer’s I-9 forms, ICE agents regularly find at least ½ of all forms reviewed have some kind of error. Each error can result in civil penalties with fine amounts ranging from $110-$1100 per occurrence.

On August 12, ICE released a report detailing enforcement efforts in Arizona during 2010. Among other statistics, the report included information about worksite enforcement in Arizona:

“ICE audited 59 Arizona businesses, resulting in the inspection of 21,587 Forms I-9. Of the 21,587 Forms I-9 inspected, agents determined that 2,177 employees presented “Suspect Documents.” 25 businesses were served a Warning Notice and 23 were served a Notice of Compliance based on the results of the Form I-9 audits. ICE is currently preparing several Notices of Intent to Fine for other business audited in FY10. In FY 09, ICE fined six Arizona companies with fine notices totaling more than $270,000.”

How Can an Employer Protect Their Business?

Take the Arizona statistics seriously!

1. Be proactive.
2. Review and correct your I-9s before ICE does.
3. Take additional steps and implement best practices, procedures and trainings to improve compliance.
4. Consider utilizing electronic I-9 completion and storage solutions to establish a good faith defense.
5. Get help from an expert to be sure you are acting appropriately and not violating anti-discrimination provisions.

Now is the time to implement best practices. ICE has promised and is delivering increased enforcement activity. All employers have had fair warning!

Failure to address Forms I-9 compliance is asking for trouble and gambling with your company’s future.

Are You an HR Person With an I-9 Mess on Your Hands?

While you may be a very capable Human Resources expert concerning Form I-9 issues, what if your predecessor was not?  Your company may be at tremendous risk because ICE auditors will not only look at your current I-9 forms, but will also request all of your terminated employees’ forms for the past 3 years.

How many costly I-9 compliance mistakes have been made that you may not be aware of?  We encourage you to take a look at your I-9 files on a regular basis.  You may be shocked at what you find.

If you have inherited an I-9 mess, it may be quite difficult to take those concerns to your boss.  However, you must take a proactive approach to make a good-faith effort to correct the documentation in order to avoid serious government fines.

Form I-9 Compliance Action Steps

1. Realize the Form I-9 is not as simple as it may appear and that fines for basic clerical mistakes start at $110.00 per form, per employee.
2. To help your boss understand the serious consequences of Form I-9 violations, emphasize employment eligibility verification is a legal requirement and non-compliance could result in substantial fines for the company.  The best way to avoid disaster is to focus on a full scale clean up of company I-9 procedures.
3. Get help!  You probably wouldn’t think of auditing the company’s tax records by yourself and you certainly should not consider auditing I-9 compliance by yourself. Over the years, the requirements of the Form I-9 have changed and it is important that any retroactive attempt at compliance be done within the constraints of the law.
4. Consider electronic completion and storage options.  This may be the best approach to cleaning up the I-9 mess in your file cabinets.
5. Identify and document “best practices” for moving forward in full compliance.  A qualified I-9 specialist can help develop the right procedures and practices for your business.

Aggressive Form I-9 Enforcement Strategy

Is Your Company Prepared?

The sad truth is most U.S. employers are ignoring the threat of immigration audits.  When it comes to Form I-9 compliance, E-Verify, and state laws, many corporate officers are taking a “head in the sand” approach or are willing to “roll the dice” and bet their business will not be a target of an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigation.  This denial can be a very costly mistake.

ICE has promised to take a more aggressive approach to enforcement and they are delivering!  A few examples of this new Form I-9 enforcement strategy include reports in The Houston Chronicle about Texas employers who have been fined more than $600,000 since the fall of 2009 for I-9 violations.  One employer was fined $34,000 for failure to complete any Forms I-9.  Other Texas employers were accused of more serious issues of knowingly hiring unauthorized workers.

The New Jersey Record reports that more than 2 dozen businesses face fines totaling roughly $1.25 million after ICE investigations revealed Form I-9 errors.  This beefed up enforcement is taking place across the country in businesses just like yours.  No company is immune.  All businesses are fair game for an ICE inspection.

Costly non-compliance fines could devastate your company.  Being prepared for an ICE inspection before immigration agents serve your business with a Notice of Inspection is essential.  Compliance is not just a simple matter of having I-9 forms for all employees.  Form I-9 compliance involves a comprehensive corporate compliance plan including written protocols, regularly scheduled Form I-9 compliance audits, as well as defined best practices. Immigration compliance involves strategic planning and laser focus.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.  “Failing” an I-9 inspection is a costly lesson to learn, one that could bankrupt your business and ruin your company’s reputation.

Employment Verification Laws

The times they are a changin’….

As President Obama pushes to reform the current immigration system, employers are under increasing pressure to follow Federal law requirements concerning hiring authorized workers while at the same time carefully monitoring State employment eligibility law as well.  Many people are following the debate about Arizona’s new immigration legislation while in South Carolina, one of the toughest employer sanctions laws in the country has slid in under the radar and gone mostly unnoticed by anyone not doing business in the state.

Employers across the country should be paying very close attention to Form I-9 requirements and E-Verify laws.  In just the last few months, several significant changes have taken place that impact how employers verify the identity and work eligibility of the people they hire.

• A newly redesigned Green Card (Permanent Resident Card).
• Changes to the Employment Authorization Document to increase document security have been implemented.
• E-Verify has been redesigned and new tools have been added.

E-Verify and the “Hire Date”

Perhaps the most significant change is what is being termed the “Thursday Rule” which now gives employers until the 4^th business day to utilize E-Verify.  Until recently the directive has always been 3 business days from the date of hire.

Amid this flurry of change, the Office of the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Employment Discrimination (OSC), had been actively investigating complaints against employers accused of improper use of the Form I-9 and/or E-Verify during the hiring process.  Morton’s Restaurant, Garland Sales, and even Macy’s department store have been accused of identity document abuse by asking new hires to produce more documents than are required for the completion of the Form I-9.

What once seemed to be just one more piece of paper to keep on file is now an albatross around every employer’s neck.  Failing to give the I-9 the attention it demands is costing businesses thousands of dollars.  Many employers mistakenly believe it is enough to have an I-9 on file for every employee.  These employers will ultimately pay the price. Since April 2009, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has fined employers over $17 million for non-compliance based on technical and clerical errors on the Form I-9.

Many of these errors could have been identified prior to the ICE inspection had the company obtained an independent 3^rd party audit by a qualified I-9 specialist. An independent 3rd party audit is one of the best tools an employer can utilize to insure complete Form I-9 compliance.  By using an expert independent 3^rd party auditor, a business can take a proactive approach to correcting costly errors, identifying areas of non-compliance, and protecting their business against claims of discriminatory hiring practices.

It is time for every employer to wake up and realize the Form I-9 requires the same attention that tax forms and other legal and compliance issues require.  Failing to use an experienced Form I-9 specialist to assist your company in obtaining 100% compliance is putting your business at unnecessary risk of huge financial penalties as well as a public relations nightmare.   Don’t let the negative results of an ICE inspection of your company be the lead story on your local news!

ICE Makes Good on Worksite Enforcement Promise

A few weeks ago, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) circulated an internal memo outlining their continued commitment to worksite enforcement by inspecting employers’ Form I-9 compliance.  This week, they are making good on their promise by once again issuing Notices of Inspection to businesses across the country.  So I guess the question you need to ask yourself is “Do you feel lucky – really lucky”?

Unfortunately, a “head in the sand” approach is what many businesses are taking toward Form I-9 compliance.  They figure they will never be the target of an ICE inspection…so why invest the time and money to become 100% compliant?  The short answer is simple – because IT’S THE LAW.  For the same reasons a business hires a professional to service and maintain equipment, consults with an agent to carry adequate insurance, and relies on a CPA to make sure it is paying the appropriate taxes, the savvy business will utilize an expert who specializes in Employment Eligibility Verification to ensure proper Form I-9 compliance.

The Dreaded ICE Inspection

So what happens when a company that has failed to take a proactive approach to I-9 compliance is inspected by ICE?  Once a company has been selected for an I-9 audit, an ICE officer visits the business and serves a Notice of Inspection ordering the company to produce all of their current employees’ I-9 Forms, payroll records, business license, and other documents.  ICE will also ask for all Form I-9s for employees terminated over the past 3 years. The company is given 3 business days to send all of the requested information to the ICE forensic auditor.

At the completion of the forensic audit, ICE issues a Notice of Technical Violation to the company and by law must allow the employer 10 business days to repair the I-9 Forms and resubmit.  An astute employer will work with a Form I-9 specialist to be certain the forms are repaired appropriately, saving the company thousands of dollars in civil penalties associated with technical violations.  Working with an expert during this part of the audit will not only save the company thousands of dollars, it may also help the business prove “good faith” in attempting to comply with Form I-9 requirements in the future.

Form I-9 Compliance  – Take Action Today

We encourage employers to take a proactive approach to Form I-9 compliance.  Taking the time to assess compliance before ICE visits will save an employer thousands of dollars in fines, the public relations nightmare associated with bad press from an immigration audit, and the stress of going through the cumbersome I-9 audit process.