Form I-9, the Employment Eligibility Verification, is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States.
All US employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for every employee hired to work in the USA, regardless of whether the employee is a US citizen or not.
Why is I-9 Compliance important?
I-9 Compliance is important because an employer’s failure to meet their I-9 obligations risks civil fines and possibly even criminal penalties.
Civil penalties for I-9 paperwork violations rage from $281 to almost $2800 per violation. Examples of paperwork violations could be: incomplete names, dates of birth, missing signatures, or incorrectly recording document information.
Penalties for knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers range from $698 to almost $5600 per worker on a first offense, and up to nearly $28,000 per worker on a third offense.
Where it’s determined the employer has a pattern or practice of knowingly employing unauthorized workers, employers risk criminal fines and potential jail time.
Our Top Tips for Ensuring I-9 Compliance
The number one thing you can do to protect your company from fines and penalties is to ensure that you have a clear process in place for timely and correctly completing I-9 forms and verifying I-9 documents. To make that happen, we have three top tips:
1: Designate specific employees to verify I-9 documents and complete I-9 Forms.
Your company policy should make it clear whose responsibility it is to verify I-9 documents. Your policy should outline a procedure that builds I-9 completion and document verification into your onboarding process so that your company never misses an I-9 deadline.
Remember: the employer needs to complete Section 1 of the I-9 Form at the time of hire, and Section 2 must be completed within three business days of the employee’s start date.
2: Train your designated employees in proper I-9 completion and document verification.
The best way to avoid fines for paperwork violations is by training your employees to correctly complete I-9 forms and identify employment authorization and identification documents.
Your company can do this by providing a variety of examples of acceptable I-9 documents. In our experience, misidentifying I-9 documents is one of the most common I-9 completion errors and can result in significant fines.
Many of our clients choose to hire Murray Osorio to run I-9 training for staff members. This way, your company can be confident that your staff is well-equipped to complete your company’s I-9 forms and correctly identify documents.
3: Conduct periodic internal audits.
Every so often, perhaps once a year, it can be a good idea to do an internal audit of your I-9 forms. However, your company must be careful to conduct a non-discriminatory audit, so be sure to either audit all I-9 forms or randomly select I-9s to verify.
Murray Osorio offers I-9 internal audit services to companies so you can be confident about the audit, and any necessary I-9 corrections were conducted in full compliance with the regulations.
If you’d like to learn more about how your business can ensure I-9 compliance and avoid potential fines, contact our office today for personalized legal advice. The experienced attorneys at Murray Osorio can assist your company with reviewing I-9s, developing policy and training for I-9 completion, and conducting internal audits.