According to the American Staffing Association, more and more companies around the country are reporting being audited by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This increase in employee audits is primarily due to the Obama Administration’s targeting employers that commit immigration-related employment authorization violations, which is a reversal in direction from the Bush Administration, which focused on the undocumented workers themselves.

Locally speaking, ICE recently reported that two Houston-area businesses each agreed to pay $2 million in fines in order to settle allegations that they knowingly hired workers who were undocumented.

After reviewing their Forms I-9, ICE found that both companies had a “pattern and practice” of ICE violations, including a high percentage of undocumented workers on their payrolls who were hired based on “egregiously suspect” ID and related eligibility documents.

So how can you ensure this doesn’t happen to your company?

As one of the leading staffing agencies in Houston, Texas, we know it’s vitally important that you have a strict process in place for complying with Form I-9 regulations. Under the regulations, you must ensure the I-9 has been completed correctly and also verify a worker’s identity and work authorization. Non-compliance, even if it’s simply an honest mistake, can lead to big fines and disruptions in productivity.

Besides making sure the form is completed correctly and identification verified, you are also required to keep I-9s for either three years after the date of a worker’s hire or one year after the date in which employment was terminated (whichever date comes later). You can store the I-9s in paper form, electronically, or on microfilm or microfiche. Regardless of where or how they are stored, if you do receive a Notice of Inspection from ICE, you need to be able produce these forms within three days of the request.

Some other guidelines to keep in mind include:

• Employers must have an I-9 for all employees hired after November 6, 1986.
• This form is not meant for temporary workers or contractors.
• When you hire a new employee, that employee has three days to complete the Form I-9. But try to get it done on the first day. To facilitate the process, make sure to tell the new hire to bring an appropriate form of identification (an original, not a photocopy) on their first day.
• While you don’t have to photocopy a new employee’s documentation, if you do it for one employee, then you have to do it for all employees. In other words, you have to have a consistent policy in place regarding photocopying.
• Occasionally review your Form I-9 files and destroy those that you are no longer required by law to keep. This will not only make record-keeping easier, but it also reduces your potential for liability in case of an ICE audit.