New Immigration Legislation Necessitates Enhanced I-9 Compliance
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 02, 2021
A slew of executive orders have been signed by President Joe Biden. Amongst new COVID-19 legislation and reinforcing a commitment to combating discrimination, there are several immigration-related orders. The Biden Administration’s executive orders will open up both work- and family-based permanent residence processing and end the “Muslim Ban.” Additionally, there is legislation being prepared which would create a path to citizenship for many other people currently living in the United States and abroad. This means that your organization will begin to receive new immigration-related documents which may give rise to I-9 compliance issues.
Theoretically, the I-9 is a simple 2-page form requiring both the employee and the employer to enter basic information and copy numbers from a document. However, completing a correct Form I-9 is much more complex than that. There is a 100+ page manual along with 15 pages of instructions for this “simple 2-page form.” Based on government data, 76% of an organization’s I-9s have at least one error, and the average penalty per Form I-9 is $1,862. Not having an I-9 on file means even more serious penalties. I-9 audits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continue to rise across all sectors. Because of the increase in worksite audits and these new expanded immigration laws, it’s vital to ensure your organization is in compliance with I-9 rules and regulations both for new hires and for your existing forms.
There are many combinations of documents that an employee may present when completing their I-9. With the expansion of immigration laws, we anticipate that you will see an even wider variety of work authorization and identity documents. As these new orders and laws are being put into place, now is the time to establish a robust I-9 compliance program. If you don’t, you are opening your organization to huge fines and liability.
About Paragon Compliance:
We assist employers with all facets of I-9 compliance including audit, new form completion, and policy and procedure review. Our electronic system for new Form I-9 creation provides step-by-step guidance to both employees and employers to complete the form correctly, up to and including E-Verify integration. Our electronic I-9 audit tool is a multi-point inspection tool that identifies missing information, incorrect formatting, incorrect information, and all other errors that could result in a fine, and then we guide you through fixing the errors.
Paragon also helps employers with other complex HR compliance issues such as Affordable Care Act, Anti-Harassment programs, and Diversity training.