Archive for the ‘Employment Verification’ Category
ICE Issues Notice of Audit to 1000 Businesses
In a reflection of the Obama Administration’s continued emphasis on employer compliance with immigration laws, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) today issued audit notices to 1000 companies. According to ICE’s announcement, these employers were selected due to “investigative leads and intelligence and because of the business’ connection to public safety and national security.” Names of these employers were not released due to “ongoing, law enforcement” concerns, according to ICE’s statement. ICE audits involve the thorough review of an employer’s I-9 forms for their workforce, and traditionally has often resulted in employer sanctions for both routine and more egregious I-9 violations. Sanctions typically range from $375 to $16,000 per violation, with repeat offenders receiving stiffer penalties.
We believe that now would be a good time for all employers to conduct an internal self-audit of all I-9’s, to make sure that the employer is fully in compliance with all rules and regulations. With increased ICE audits, Dept. of Labor audits, and random site visits by USCIS, it is critical that employers pro-actively address any issues with their workforce.
Tags: audit, audit notice, compliance, employer, I-9, immigration, USCIS random site visit
Posted in Employment Verification, Uncategorized | Read More »
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, Federal Contractors Required to Use E-Verify
Beginning Sept. 8, 2009, all federal contractors will be required to use E-Verify, the government database used to verify employment eligibility of workers. E-Verify is a database run jointly by the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). It compares work eligibility information collected by the employer against information in the SSA’s database in order to verify employment eligibility.
Contracts awarded after Sept. 8th will contain an E-Verify clause, which will require enrollment in E-Verify within 30 days of entering into the contract. E-verify must be used to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires, whether or not they are working on the contract, and to verify the employment eligibility of existing employees, if they will be working on the contract.
This new requirement will subject more employers to scrutiny by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the interior enforcement arm of DHS. In addition to increasing administrative costs to U.S. businesses during a recession, it will likely result in an increase in ICE audits.
Tags: Dept. of Homeland Security, E-verify, employment eligibility, federal contractors, immigration
Posted in Employment Verification | Read More »
I-9 Audits on The Rise, Fines to Increase
As part of its immigration enforcement strategy, the Obama Administration has announced that it would focus on employers who hire undocumented workers. In July, over 650 employers were told that they were being audited for potential immigration violations, and apparently many more will be audited in the weeks and months to come.
“You are going to see audits regularly and on a larger scale,” said John Morton, the new chief of U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement to the Wall Street Journal. Apparently, civil fines could exceed $800 per employee. Yet this increased focus on employer compliance does nothing to address the fact that certain industries, namely, agriculture, construction, as well as others, depend heavily on immigrant labor.
In addition, despite the Obama Administration’s stated goal of going after ‘bad actor’ employers, the New York Times reported recently that immigration related prosecutions of undocumented immigrants (rather than the employers who hire them) were up significantly since Obama took office.
What we need in this country is not more enforcement, but sensible reform that addresses our economic need as a nation. We must legalize the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows who have a critical role to play in the U.S.’s economic recovery. President Obama and Janet Napolitano thus far have only paid lip service to the need for reform. What we need from them now is leadership and action.
Tags: audit, I-9, immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, immigration enforcement, Obama
Posted in Employment Verification | Read More »
