USCIS Increases I-9 Penalties (Video)

Lisa Smith covers the increase in I-9 penalties for noncompliance.

Transcript

In my last installment, we talked about the new I-9. Let’s talk about why it’s so very important to make sure you follow all of the instructions. Did you know, in addition to publishing the new I-9, USCIS also raised the penalties for noncompliance? It’s absolutely true.

In years past, for one little technical error on the I-9, you could be charged $110. Now that penalty is $216. Yeah.

Keep in mind, they will max you out at 10 penalties. So you do get a bulk discount on your errors, but who wants that kind of bulk discount, right? No, that’s no fun. Also keep in mind that the penalties for not having an I-9 and for, of course, employing undocumented workers, have also increased drastically.

So what’s an employer to do? Well, number one, you want to jump in there and audit the I-9s that you currently have on file. If you find errors, make sure you fix them. And number two, when you start to complete the new I-9s on people that are brought into your organization going forward, please follow all of the directions. Don’t rely on what you’ve done in the past to dictate what you do in the future.

While many things have not changed, there are some things that have. Hence, the 15 pages of instructions.

Until next time, I’m Lisa Smith. Remember, you can always be audit proof, but if you work hard and you follow the rules to the best of your ability, you can be audit secure.

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