Verification of Employment Eligibility turns profit for U.S. Immigration

Don’t miss this deadline.    May 7, 2013 marks that last date on which Employers may use the one page I-9 form OMB 1615-0047 bearing the expiration date of 8/31/12.    A new form has now been released and although it bears an effective date of May 8, 2013, Employers are being advised to utilize the form immediately and toss aside any and all non-compliant forms.  The new form has been expanded to two pages and provides six pages of instructions.   There do not appear to be many changes to the form.    Space for email address and phone number have been added and the guidance provided for aliens authorized to work is much more user friendly, identifying exact documents and required information.   The Employer now completes page 2 which is virtually the same information with additional space for input.

                The new form release follows the efforts of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office (ICE) to crack down on non-compliant Employers.   Reports indicate that during 2012, the ICE audited over 3,000 businesses, 12 times more than the number audited in 2007.  These audits have resulted in more than $13 million in fines.  Texas and New Jersey were among the states most audited.  Fines vary based on severity or type of violation.    For hiring or continuing to employ a person knowing that the person is not authorized to work in the United States, fines range from $375 per occurrence for first offense to $16,000 for third offenses.  Failure to comply with the requirements of the I-9 form carries its own penalty of $110 to $1,100 for each inaccurate form.

                Strict rules govern documents which are acceptable in order to prove employment authorization.   List A, List B and List C have not changed but recall that in order to prove employability a potential worker must present either one item from List A OR an item from both List B and C.   This means that a US Passport trumps all.   No other documents are necessary.  However, a driver’s license does not have the same power.     A driver’s license must be accompanied by another document, one from List C, which may be a social security card or a birth certificate. 

                As a reminder, you should make sure that all new hires complete a form I-9, only ask an applicant to complete the form after you make an employment offer, maintain forms for three years after the date of hire or one year after the termination, whichever is later, make certain to follow up on expiring documents, maintain I-9’s in a file other than the employee personnel file, and strictly abide by the required documents list provided by the ICE.  Yes, I said follow up on expired documents.  You can be fined for continuing to hire a person who is ineligible for employment.  

                Don’t wait for the ICE to knock at your door.  Take compliance with this directive seriously.  Implement a self-audit protocol and make adjustments to your process based upon your findings.   Incorporate this protocol into the overall compliance program of the facility.   Then you will be ready when the ICE serves you a Notice of Intent to audit (NOI).