Massive I-9 audits on the way: How to prepare
July 20, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter - Tech
When the feds said their new immigration strategy was to crack down on employers’ hiring and record-keeping practices, they weren’t kidding.
Last week, U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) told 652 employers their I-9 forms were being audited. That’s more than the number of audits ICE conducted in the entire previous fiscal year. In addition to I-9s, many of the audits will also include subpoenas for EINs, payroll records and correspondences with the Social Security Administration regarding no-match letters.
The nationwide inspection follows an April announcement that ICE planned to focus the majority of its resources on prosecuting employers who hire illegal immigrants.
The list of companies being audited hasn’t been released. ICE has described the effort as a “first step,” meaning there will likely be more mass inspections in the near future.
What should HR managers do if they get a Notice of Inspection (NOI) from the feds?
Preparation is key. Employers must act quickly — the NOIs generally require HR to turn over all I-9s within three business days.
If I-9 records don’t pass muster with ICE, the agency could launch a criminal investigation. But even if there are no criminal charges, employers could face civil fines for faulty record-keeping.
An audit doesn’t always mean charges or fines are coming. After receiving an NOI, employers should:
- Respond quickly, even if it’s to ask ICE for a time extension
- Choose one point person to correspond with ICE — that will avoid any inconsistencies in the information given
- Notify all managers and employees who deal with I-9s and related documents
- Secure all applicable records — any missing documents could be seen as an attempt to destroy evidence or sabotage the investigation, and
- Consider conducting their own internal audit.
July 21st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
It should be like the liquor law, under age, breaking the law, both parties go to jail, and then fined the same amount the applicant has a responsible not to apply for work just as much as the employer has the responsible to hire, every time a applicant applies for work Non documented worker should be reported and hauled back to where they came from
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
From experience I can say be prepared. We worked with a resource – legalemployer.com who did a manual audit of all our I-9s. They were very helpful at ensuring we were in compliance and giving us peace of mind.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:06 am
I am an HR manager for a company in NY. We actually hired an outside company to the audit and they found almost half of our I9s had issues. We were able to fix them and prepared for a DHS audit. Name of company is legalemployer.com. Good service!
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I think that I-9 compliance is ever so important today. The ICE is doing the right thing by auditing businesses to ensure that the employemnt eligibility documents are correctly filled out. Most companies do not specialize in I-9 forms, they focus on their core business be it selling food, cars, or professional services. We all need a professional audit company to help us coonfirm the accuracy of the I-9’s kept for all employees both present and for three years past an employment termination date. I am a small business owner and found a company called Legal Employer (www.legalEmployer.com) that helped me audit my records. I do not want to caught with inaccuracies when the ICE comes knocking on my door!