A periodic internal audit of your I-9 paperwork is a endorsed risk assessment tool. But what takes place if, even as conducting the audit, you come across green cards or different documents that appear faux? As is normally the case with I-nine compliance, you should observe your dual obligations to avoid discrimination in violation of the anti-discrimination policies and to conform with employment eligibility verification regulations.
Recently, the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Discrimination (OSC) issued a technical assistance letter (TAL) that addresses the anti-discrimination requirement when questionable inexperienced playing cards or files flip up all through an I-nine internal audit.
Based upon the TAL guidance and contemporary authorities rules and approaches, here’s how to keep away from violation of anti-discrimination guidelines:
Be consistent. Conduct your internal I-9 audit in a steady way, i.E. Do now not treat employees otherwise based upon their citizenship, immigration reputation, or country wide starting place. Choose the I-9 bureaucracy you need to audit buy real documents online without regard to employee’s fame. Rule of thumb: If you’ve got fewer than a hundred I-9 bureaucracy, review all of them. If you have extra than one hundred, than you may select a random statistical pattern of your I-nine forms to audit. Of course, do no longer look at the I-9 shape otherwise due to the fact the employee is not a U.S. Citizen. Conduct the equal careful review of all I-9 paperwork chosen for the audit.
Be affordable. Employers are not anticipated to be specialists in validity of immigration files. Instead, you have to take delivery of authentic Form I-9 documentation that reasonably appears to be actual and related to the precise employee. The USCIS Handbook for Employers Guidance for Completing Form I-9 has examples of valid government files. But be aware that green cards and other immigration files can exchange periodically so usually check this resource first when you have doubts about the file supplied. Also, you could need to investigate older variations of the files as properly.
Beware of photocopies. If you’re viewing a photocopy of a inexperienced card or different record throughout an I-9 audit, you are unlikely to decide its genuineness. The USCIS Guidance for Employers Conducting Internal Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 Audits cautions that “[a]n corporation may not finish, with out foundation, that a photocopy of an employee’s Form I-nine documentation isn’t genuine or does not relate to the individual.” According to the guidance, “[a]n employer should now not request documentation from an worker completely because photocopies of the files are doubtful.”
Be flexible. If you determine, based on a photocopy, that the green card does now not appear actual or to moderately relate to the employee, you have to touch the worker and provide the possibility to provide the unique green card or record or choose a one-of-a-kind record to give from the I-nine Lists of Acceptable Documents. If the worker does provide the authentic inexperienced card or file at problem and it appears to be genuine and fairly pertains to the employee, you have to take delivery of the record and cross no in addition. However, if you determine that the original green card does now not look like proper or to fairly relate to the employee, you need to supply the worker a danger to offer a distinctive record from the Lists of Acceptable Documents.
Be Secure. While an inner self-audit may be exceptional preliminary tool to ensure your organization’s compliance, it may leave primary gaps on a way to correct I-9 Form mistakes and how to cope with unique conditions in compliance with very complicated immigration laws. A satisfactory exercise in danger assessment is having an unbiased party carry out an goal evaluation and recommend you as it should be. While consultants are to be had who can advise corrections or modifications, most employers select the security of prison recommendation that handiest attorneys can deliver. Few would disagree that hiring an immigration lawyer with information in I-9 compliance is the most prudent manner to guard your business enterprise.
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