Do's and Don'ts In Completing Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification

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Every employer must properly complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee and new hire. Employers are subject to heavy fines and possible imprisonment for I-9 compliance. Employer liability extends to owners, executives, officers, supervisors and managers, including human resources supervisors and managers. Employer liability is not limited to employer actual knowledge that an employee is not authorized for employment. Employers are liable for constructive knowledge that the employee was not authorized for employment which can be established by an incorrectly completed Form I-9, or under “the totality of circumstances” which means the federal government says "you should have known".

Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE is now aggressively targeting employers through I-9 audits, in addition to worksite enforcement actions. ICE also receives referrals from state Wage and Hour Division inspections.

Employer failure to properly complete and retain a Form I-9 for every worker will result in heavy fines and penalties, including imprisonment for owners, executives, officers, managers and supervisors. Fines are assessed per Form I-9 and per occurrence basis and add up quickly. Criminal prosecutions include a spider web of criminal charges including misdemeanor immigration violations under IRCA, felony hiring, felony harboring, conspiracy to harbor, felony money laundering, aiding and abetting felony hiring, harboring and money laundering, and aiding and abetting aggravated identity theft.

Gerald Goulder is a North Carolina immigration lawyer who works with business clients in North Carolina and throughout the United States to develop Form I-9 compliance "best practices" including internal company I-9 audits, written company policies and procedures, and regular staff training.

Shared by: Gerald Goulder

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Form I-9, employment eligibility verification, employer liability, ICE worksite enforcement, unauthorized employment, illegal worker

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posted:: 12/7/2009
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www.I-9EmploymentEligibility.com

Form I-9 Dos and Don’ts

Do require all new hires to complete and sign Section 1 on their first day of work.

Don't ask an applicant to complete an I-9 prior to extending a job offer.

Information on the I-9 could be used as a weapon in a discrimination lawsuit if the

applicant is not hired.

Don't complete Section 1 for the employee.

Don't have any blank spaces in Section 1 – if there is no middle name/initial or

maiden name, a dash should be inserted by the employee.

Do review the employee's documents to make sure they are on the Form I-9's list of

acceptable documents and to make sure they appear genuine.

Do review and make sure the employee’s name must match the name on the

documents.

Do make sure that the address is complete, including street, city, state and zip

code.

Do make sure the employee must sign and date Section 1.

Do make sure the employee must present original documents verifying

employment eligibility and identity.

Don't accept copies of documents.

Don't not ask for any document to substantiate the information in Section 1.

Don't ask the employee for any particular documents or suggest to the employee

what documents to produce.

Do have the employee review the list of acceptable documents. The employee

chooses the documents, not you.

Do make sure the documents appear genuine and relate to the person presenting

them.

Don't ask for more documents than required by the I-9.

Do make sure the expiration date of documents is written in month/day/year, not

in the European method of day/month/year.

Don't use whiteout. If a mistake occurs during completion of the Form I-9, cross

out the error and initial it.

Don't consider the expiration date of I-9 documentation when making hiring,

promotion or firing decisions.

Do make and retain copies of all I-9 documentation employees provide. These

documents will come in handy in the event of an audit.

Don't make copies of documents unless you make copies for ALL employee and not

only some employees.

Don't forget to keep a tickler file to follow up on expiring documents. Notify

employees of the need to re-verify documentation 90 days before the current

documents expire.

Do keep the Form I-9 and copies of an employee's documents for three years after

the date of hire or one year after termination, whichever comes later.

Don't put the Form I-9 in an employee's personnel file. To protect your company

against discrimination claims, keep the I-9 and supporting documentation in a

separate file.

Do establish a consistent procedure for completing I-9s and educate your hiring

managers.

Do regularly training for your I-9 employer sanctions compliance staff.

Do have written policies and procedures for Forms I-9 completion, compliance,

retention and ICE audits.

Do conduct regular internal company audits of Forms I-9.

Gerald Goulder is a North Carolina immigration lawyer with clients throughout the United

States and the world. His services assist employers to avoid substantial civil and criminal

penalties that may be assessed for I-9 employment eligibility violations. His services include

training company personnel on properly completing and retaining Forms I-9, creating

company policies for all aspects of proper Form I-9 compliance and conducting internal

company I-9 audits of its Forms I-9. His I-9 and worksite enforcement blog and I-9

employment eligibility verification website provide additional information on employer

liabilities for Forms I-9. Contact him at 1-866-US VISAS.

This is general information only. The information presented should not be construed to be formal

legal advice, nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.