No Shutdown on Employment Eligibility Requirements

Despite the partial shutdown of the federal government, all employers are still required to complete a Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification for any new hire no later than the third business day after an employee begins work for pay.  Employers who are enrolled for E-Verify will not be penalized for any delays in creating E-Verify cases during the shutdown but must create cases for all employees hired during this period once E-Verify resumes operations.

What Is E-Verify and Why Is It Important?

The E-Verify program has been shut down since Dec. 22, 2018 when the federal government went into a partial shutdown. E-Verify compares information from an employee’s Form I-9 to Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm employment eligibility. Employers enrolled in the program are required to use the system to run checks on new workers within three days of hiring them.

Consequences for Not Complying with I-9 Requirements

As an employer, what are the consequences for not complying with your legal responsibility to verify employment eligibility?  How likely is it that your workplace will be subject to an immigration audit? What triggers an immigration audit?

Increase in Immigration Audits and Raids

During 2018 the number of workplace immigration raids aimed at finding and arresting undocumented immigrants increased more than 300% compared to the year before according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data.  ICE opened 6,848 worksite investigations and initiated 5,981 I-9 audits during fiscal year 2018.  Over 2,300 people were arrested at work – more than seven times the amount in the previous year and businesses were ordered to pay $10.2m in judicial fines, forfeitures and restitutions in 2018.

Criminal Offenses Can Lead to Workplace Audits

Colleen Long, Associated Press, reported that “ICE arrested a total of 32,977 people accused of crimes and 20,464 with immigration violations during the budget year 2018 … The most frequent criminal conviction was for drunken driving, followed by drug and traffic offenses.”

Potential Penalties for Non-Compliance

Civil penalties for knowingly employing unauthorized immigrants can range from $539 to $21,563 per violation. Additionally, Form I-9 paperwork violations carry penalties of $216 to $2,156 per worker. This underscores the importance of timely and correct completion of I-9 forms for all employees, even during a government shutdown.

How an HR Professional Can Help

The bottom line for all employers – I-9 forms must be completed timely and correctly for all employees, even during the partial government shutdown. An HR professional can help you understand your legal responsibilities as well as explain how to complete the Form I-9 correctly.