Be Ready for a Worksite Inspection

What Happens During an ICE Worksite Inspection?

What is ICE looking for when they audit your I-9 forms?

When you receive a Notice of Inspection, what should you expect? Most likely ICE will request your company produce the following within 3 days of receipt of a Notice of Inspection:

A spreadsheet listing alphabetically all current and terminated employees with hire and termination dates in electronic form including the names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of each employee.
Copies of quarterly wage and hour reports and/or payroll data for all employees—current and terminated—covering the period of inspection, as well as quarterly tax statements.
Business information, including the EIN, taxpayer identification number, owner’s Social Security number, owner’s contact information, articles of incorporation (if applicable) and copies of business licenses.
Original Forms I-9s for current and past employees going back 3 years.
Copies of Social Security no-match letters your company has received.
A copy of any I-9 compliance plan or policy.
The name, title and job description of those who are responsible to complete, store and maintain I-9s.
The date the business was established, form of the business, where it is incorporated and its revenue.
The department or job titles of employees.
Quarterly unemployment insurance reports with the state or quarterly returns for Federal Income Contributions Act taxes.

My experience has been that many I-9 forms are incomplete or riddled with errors because there is no one person within company who “owns” this process. Since non-compliance with this law can result in major fines, penalties, sanctions and in some cases imprisonment, great care should be taken while completing the Form I-9.

Here’s my advice - Adopt, appoint and train one person within your company to manage the I-9 process. Draft a Form I-9 compliance policy that incorporates best practices that make sense for your company. Conduct annual I-9 audits in cooperation with an expert to identify problems and fix them before ICE comes knocking.

You may have a lot of work to do but it could save your business from large fines and penalties.

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