News is spreading like wild fire about the recent ICE announcement regarding targeting the next 1,000 businesses for I-9 Compliance.  The Wall Street Journal, Arizona Daily Star, Chicago Public Radio, Denver Business Journal, San Antonio Express and countless others all jumped on the story.

Many focused in on the reported fines that companies will have to shell out from earlier I-9 Audits this year.  Since the implementation of its new worksite enforcement strategy on April 30^th, ICE has sent out Notices of Intent to Fine in the amount of over $15 million.  That was to 142 companies.  Just to put it into perspective this represents fines for 6 months this year.  In all of last year ICE issued fines just totaling over $2 million.  You can do the math.  45 businesses and 47 individual have been debarred.

It is obvious that the government means business and future audits will continue in greater numbers.

Companies and HR professionals must ensure that their I-9’s are in order.  Many fines are caused by simple technical errors.  It is important that your I-9 Administrator is fully aware of all of the updated guidelines and requirements.

            -A thorough internal I-9 Audit should take place annually

            -Problems should be brought to the table

            -Deficiencies should be addressed immediately and legally

            -The company should ensure that it has a well documented I-9 Compliance plan

            -Companies of all sizes should have an I-9 Compliance officer

Many companies can benefit from the help by independent third party experts whose sole responsibility is I09 Compliance. 

So again, we pose the same question that we have asked for months – What’s in your files?  The experts at Legal Employer can help.

Popularity: 58% [?]

Related Content

Subscribe to the post comments feeds or Leave a trackback