There is great pressure on the current Administration and Congress to “do something” about illegal immigration. Due to the recent failure to pass legislation on the issue, the pressure has shifted to the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They are stepping up enforcement efforts against employers.

Targeted employers are those in the construction, restaurant, farming and other low-wage industries. If you are in that category, you should assess your hiring procedures and modify them as necessary to comply with the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which all employers are required to do.

To do that, you must, (a) get each employee to complete Section 1 of Form I-9 – Employment Eligibility Verification, (b) complete Section 2 yourself, and (c) obtain documents that verify both the employee’s identity and employment authorization.

A list of acceptable documents is included on the Form I-9.

You must complete Section 2 of Form I-9 within three business days after the employee begins work. You must identify the documents that you examined to verify the employee’s identity and employment eligibility and include the document identification number and expiration date (if applicable). You should keep a copy of the documents together with the I-9 in the employee’s file. You also must attest, under penalty of perjury, that you examined the documents, that they appeared to be genuine, that they relate to the employee, and that, to the best of your knowledge, the employee is authorized to work in the United States.

You must use the same procedures for all employees to avoid discrimination claims.

For all current employees for whom you may not have complied, I recommend that you follow the same procedure even though they may have been working with you for years. If you cannot confirm their identity and their employment authorization and you continue to employ them, you will be subject to the following:

– For employers who fail to properly complete, retain, or make I-9 Forms available for inspection, fines range from $100 to $1,100 per individual I-9.

– For employers who knowingly hire or knowingly continue to employ unauthorized workers, civil penalties range from $250 to $11,000 per violation.

– For employers engaging in a pattern or practice of knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers, fines can be as much as $3,000 per employee and/or 6 months of imprisonment.

Some employers have taken a casual approach to compliance with the IRCA in the past. The risk has dramatically increased.

Jerry Bloch