2019 Hiring Compliance Guide for Finance Leaders

Your compliance headaches don’t end at recruiting. Federal law requires all employers to use certain forms to verify the employment eligibility and identity of all employees hired to work in the United States.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become far more active this past year, and fines for simple errors, such as incomplete forms, range from $110 to $1,100 per violation. Fines increase up to $16,000 per violation for knowingly employing unauthorized workers.

Who does it effect?

I-9: Form I-9 verifies employment eligibility, and it is required for every person your company hires. The I-9 does not require gathering a Social Security number or photo identification.

E-Verify: E-Verify is operated by the Department of Homeland Security* and, like the I-9, allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of employees. E-Verify is mandatory in more than 20 states and counting. Unlike I-9, however, E-Verify does require your HR team to gather Social Security numbers and photo identification.

Note that E-Verify is also mandatory for employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause.

Potential Penalties

I-9: Penalties for knowingly hiring and employing unauthorized workers range from $375 to $16,000 per violation. Since early 2018, ICE has relied on I-9 inspections to discover and impose penalties on businesses that have not appropriately verified employment eligibility.

The number of companies that have had their I-9 processes audited every year has rocketed from a few hundred to thousands. In the first seven months of 2018, ICE has opened more work-site investigations than in all of fiscal year 2017.

What you should know

Consider the following things at your priority:-

This is something you’ll want to automate.

Don’t let your HR team spend valuable time (and money) manually tracking expiration dates and reminding employees to provide updated documents. Employees who fall through the cracks are a major compliance risk.

Tracking systems should not only offer a process for entering I-9 data but also provide confirmation of employment authorization, allow for customized reports for self-auditing and implement safeguards to prevent over-documentation.

Make sure your team is on the ball.

In many companies we talk to and survey, HR corrals the I-9 process and owns the proper completion and retention of the I-9 form. If that’s the case in your company’s situation, that’s even more reason to automate the process as much as possible.

Otherwise, if you don’t rely on HR technology, your HR teams (and anyone who assists with I-9) better be well trained and understand anti-discrimination practices. They should know the federal guidelines around the I-9 process, and be familiar with the M-274 Guidance for Completing Form I-9 handbook.

Hiring compliance needs leadership because the proverbial devil is in the details. For example, employees who telecommute must still complete Section 1 of the Form I-9 and have their identities and/or work authorization documents reviewed in person by HR. And that’s only the beginning.

That’s why you should conduct an annual self-audit to help ensure continued compliance with I-9 and E-Verify rules.

Which business software can help you with hiring compliance?

To keep your business prevented from hiring compliance penalties, we highly recommend you Paycor HR software for business.

Paycor comes with truly helpful HR features relevant to hiring compliance requirements. It comes with:-

1. Human Resource Management
2. Onboarding
3. HR Support Center

Relying on Paycor would never feel you regretted. It’s simple, cost effective, and easy-to use.