Surge of I-9 Audits This Summer, Are You Ready?

U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement (ICE) is planning to ramp up the number of Form I-9 audits this summer according to an article from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). I-9 Audits are a key part of the ICE’s enforcement efforts, the agency provides a factsheet that documents how they conduct audits. The process starts with a notice of inspection which compels the employer to provide copies of original I-9’s and other pertinent HR records such as payroll. Findings from an ICE audit are communicated back to the employer and can result in the following six most common notices (quoted directly from the ICE website):

  • Notice of Inspection Results – also known as a “compliance letter,” used to notify a business that they were found to be in compliance.
  • Notice of Suspect Documents – advises the employer that based on a review of the Forms I-9 and documentation submitted by the employee, ICE has determined that an employee is unauthorized to work and advises the employer of the possible criminal and civil penalties for continuing to employ that individual. ICE provides the employer and employee an opportunity to present additional documentation to demonstrate work authorization if they believe the finding is in error.
  • Notice of Discrepancies – advises the employer that based on a review of the Forms I-9 and documentation submitted by the employee, ICE has been unable to determine their work eligibility. The employer should provide the employee with a copy of the notice, and give the employee an opportunity to present ICE with additional documentation to establish their employment eligibility.
  • Notice of Technical or Procedural Failures – identifies technical violations identified during the inspection and gives the employer ten business days to correct the forms. After ten business days, uncorrected technical and procedural failures will become substantive violations.
  • Warning Notice – issued in circumstances where substantive verification violations were identified, but circumstances do not warrant a monetary penalty and there is the expectation of future compliance by the employer.
  • Notice of Intent to Fine (NIF) – may be issued for substantive, uncorrected technical, knowingly hire and continuing to employ violations.

A NIF obviously includes fines but can also be the beginning of greater civil and even criminal penalties. According to the SHRM article, ICE has plans to further increase I-9 audits by creating a national inspection center and deploying electronic scanning technology to greatly increase their audit capacity. It’s more critical then ever for employers to ensure they are in compliance.

Employers are obligated by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 to verify the identity and authorization to work of all employees. Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development developed a web page to help farm employers understand and comply with I-9 requirements. You can find links to helpful sites and a detailed I-9 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on the I-9 page. Farm employers can use and adapt the I-9 SOP to create a business process that will help ensure legal compliance, demonstrate good faith efforts, and avoid severe penalties from ICE enforcement.

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By Richard Stup, Cornell University. Permission granted to repost, quote, and reprint with author attribution.
The post Surge of I-9 Audits This Summer, Are You Ready? appeared first on Cornell Agricultural Workforce Development.

 

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