The Form I-9 and Upper Level Management
How Do You Know?- What if your hiring managers aren’t taking the Form I-9 seriously?
- What if the I-9 is just one more thing on their “to do” list?
- Worse yet, what if they are purposefully circumventing the I-9 process in order to hire illegal workers?
If you are like Howard Industries, a manufacturing company in Mississippi, you find out when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigates your business and you ultimately pay $2.5 million dollars in fines as a result of the actions of one human resources manager.
According to court records this one “rogue” HR manager routinely hired unauthorized workers who presented fake documents and completed the Form I-9 with the false information. The same HR manager was also accused of ignoring notices from the Social Security Administration that SS numbers submitted for some employees were invalid.
ICE claimed the HR manager regularly instructed employees to obtain fake IDs. He plead guilty and faces a maximum of 5 years imprisonment on the conspiracy charge and on each employee verification fraud count. He also faces a minimum of 2 years of imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft charge and a possible fine up to $250,000.
As a result of the actions of this one “rogue” employee, Howard Industries was charged with knowingly and willfully conspiring to encourage and induce undocumented workers to reside in the U.S. and knowingly conspiring to conceal, harbor and shield from detection such workers. The company agreed to plead guilty to the one-count felony of “Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States” which called for a term of not less than one and not more than 5 years of probation and a fine of up to $500,000. The fine was substantially enhanced to $2.5 million due to the nature of the crime, the number of workers involved and the size of the company.
What’s the Message Here?
Failure to comply with Form I-9 requirements can lead to huge fines, criminal indictments, and even prison sentences! The impact on your company’s image due to negative press as well as the enormous legal cost of defending yourself must also be considered.
To protect your business I urge you to order a full 3rd party audit of your I-9 records by a qualified expert. Sure you can audit your own I-9 forms, but an in-house audit is a case of “the fox watching the hen house” and offers little if any protection against I-9 abuse.
You should also develop a comprehensive Form I-9 policy and procedure plan to address such issues as document fraud. Order training for all your hiring managers so they fully understand the entire I-9 process and the risk of non-compliance.
ICE investigations continue to increase by the day. Now is the time to take a good look at your Form I-9 compliance program and get the help you need to protect your business from financial ruin.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-303-658-9342
ICE Targeting the Largest U.S. Companies With New Agency
Emboldened by its parade of victories against mostly tiny employers ($7 million in fines against 2,740 firms in 2010), ICE is now poised to target some of America’s largest companies. As reported on January 20 by the Wall St. Journal’s Miriam Jordan (”Crackdown on Illegal Workers Grows”) in an interview of ICE Chief, John Morton, the agency has opened an “Employment Compliance Inspection Center.” According to Mr. Morton, the new ECIC would “address a need to conduct audits even of the largest employers with a very large number of employees.” Just as the WSJ scoop reported, ICE’s new ECIC debuted late this week in Crystal City, VA. It will start with an initial crew of “15 auditors who will support ICE’s worksite enforcement strategy by helping agency field offices around the country expedite Form I-9 audits of businesses selected for inspection by ICE.”
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-303-658-9342
The Rise of Form I-9 Audits
Remember the days when the opening story on national news might include extraordinary footage of an immigration raid? We would watch these spectacular raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) where workers were arrested en masse and placed in deportation centers.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-303-658-9342
To Avert Disaster Know The 8 Secrets For Immigration
Develop a written and follow simple rules of immigration immigration policy, including the basics of Form I-9 preparation, storage and I-9 retention policies and a summary of both state and federal. How to investigate how the applications submitted by unauthorized or fraudulent use of working documents during the process I-9.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
Form I-9 Compliance Management
In the past, the employment verification process has been riddled with problems such as errors resulting from illegible writing, incorrectly completed forms, expired forms, and employers were overwhelmed with managing the mounds of paperwork involved. Non-compliance results in government audits and stiff financial penalties so employers are forced to search for ways to set up a more efficient Form I-9 management process while working toward adopting a paperless solution. The rules are now strictly enforced by the Department of Homeland Security and if a company is audited and found to be non-compliant, reasons such as ignorance or oversight are no longer acceptable.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
ICE Fines Abercrombie & Fitch
Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent in charge of ICE HSI for Ohio and Michigan, noted that “[e]mployers are responsible not only for the people they hire but also for the internal systems they choose to utilize to manage their employment process and those systems must result in effective compliance.” Mr. Moskowitz went on to state that “the settlement should serve as a warning to other companies that may not yet take the employment verification process seriously or provide it the attention it warrants.”
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
When Hiring Temporary Employees Avoid These Top 5 Form I-9 Mistakes
When hiring temporary employees, Human Resources managers risk putting their company’s E-Verify and Form I-9 compliance in jeopardy if they make any of these common I-9 mistakes.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
The Audit Surge In I-9 Enforcement
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is serving more than 500 Form I-9 Notices of Inspection to organizations across the U.S., according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. As reported by our guest bloggers last week, ICE is continuing and increasing these Form I-9 investigations in order to create a “culture of compliance” in an area that has often been overlooked or ignored by employers. According to sources that have talked with the agency, the 500+ NOIs are largely based on credible leads involving organizations that are suspected of hiring unauthorized workers, underpaying employees or otherwise exploiting the workforce. In general, ICE prioritizes the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
Top Tips For I-9 Compliance
By now, you know that the U.S. government has been performing widespread investigations and audits of employers to crack down on employment of undocumented noncitizens. You should also be aware that you must maintain Form I-9, an employment authorization verification form issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), for all your workers.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
I-9 Compliance Audits Catch Both Good and Bad Employers
In 2009, Janet Napolitano, DHS Secretary, stated that the DHS would place more focus on employers to tackle illegal immigration. An increase in audits of Employee Eligibility Verification forms (I-9s) was expected by many as the DHS and ICE cracked down on what many in government believe to be the root cause of illegal immigration: the willingness of some U.S. employers to hire illegal aliens.
W. Garnett & Associates
Human Capital Management
1-888-884-3910
