As many of you are aware, immigration and illegal workers have become a
hot political topic. During President Bush’s State of the Union
address he called for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration
reform. He went on to say “We need reform that will secure our
borders, enhance interior and worksite enforcement, and create a
temporary worker program.” In the fall of 2005, the President signed a
bill that doubled the amount of resources available to enforce worksite
compliance. In addition, the number of arrests for worksite
enforcement cases in 2006 was seven times higher that it was in 2002.
The average fine for incomplete I-9 forms is $500 per form. That
includes both current and terminated employees so you can see how that
could add up real fast.
It
is clear that the government is going to put more and more pressure on
business owners to make sure that they are in compliance. The easiest
and most effective way for them to do this is to track illegal workers
through the Social Security Administration. Every year, the Social
Security Administration rejects hundreds of thousands of W-2 tax forms
because the SS# does not match their records. The SSA then sends out a
letter to the employer requesting a verification of the employee’s
SS#. The employer is then responsible for getting corrected
information from the employee and sending the corrected info back to
the SSA. If the employee is still working for the company and it was
simply a mistake, then the request is done easily. However, if the
employee is terminated or gave the employer a fraudulent SS# than how
do you respond to that? Since every employer is required to verify
whether or not an employee is authorized to work by properly completing
the I-9 form, they really don’t have a reasonable defense. Most
employers that find themselves in this predicament simply don’t
respond. The SSA knows this and has begun to use this as a method to
track down and punish businesses that employ illegal workers.
Another
method that INS (United States Immigration and Naturalization Service)
may use to crack down on illegal workers is to simply target certain
types of industries. Other government agencies have been known to pull
names of companies that fit a particular industry segment and randomly
inspect or visit them.
The third way
that a company may fall under the eyes of the INS is by a formal or
informal complaint. Mohawk Industries, a carpeting & floor
covering company, is currently being sued by a group of employees. The
employees accuse Mohawk of conspiring to keep employee wages low by
employing illegal immigrants and therefore causing an undo negative
influence on the cost of labor. We all have also heard stories about
disgruntled current and former employees who have incorrectly or
correctly reported a company to a government agency in an effort to
damage them in some way or another.
The
best way to prepare ourselves against any possible difficulties that
may come from this issue is to simply take a few minutes with each new
employee and make sure that the I-9 is completed properly and
completely. I have attached a sample completed I-9. In addition, ELM
Staffing is going to start becoming more diligent with regard to
employee paperwork. We will still accept incomplete paperwork but we
will begin to turn around and send the forms (s) back that need a
little more attention.
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