The risks of incorrect employment eligibility verifications
The federal government trusts its citizens to report income, deductions and other financial items through a pseudo honor system. For example, taxpayers who choose to lie about or avoid providing specific information may only be discovered if they are subjected to an audit. The government uses this type of honor system as a method of enforcement not only with individual citizens, but with corporate citizens as well. This includes I-9 verification and compliance. Employers are required to document each new employee's eligibility to work in the United States through a series of manually completed processes and documents.
"Companies who fail to document employee proof of eligibility, or those who hire illegal immigrants, risk serious penalties including fines and imprisonment," explains Lisa Wells, senior product manager for Ceridian Talent Acquisition Services.
The penalty for failing to provide proof of employment eligibility can also cause significant business reputation risk for the organization. Recently, the Boston Globe reported that a leather factory producing safety vests and backpacks for the U.S. military was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials for hiring illegal immigrants. The company held a reported $92 million in U.S. government contracts. The Boston Globe also reported that in fiscal 2006, agents arrested 716 officials at various U.S. companies on charges of violating immigration laws. This compares to 25 in 2002. (Boston Globe, "350 Held in Immigration Raid," March 7, 2007.)
Moving ahead
Employers should recognize that employment eligibility enforcement will continue to increase. Fortunately, the federal government and software developers are making it easier not only to process and store documents electronically, but also to verify eligibility through an online, automated government-funded program. And now some states -- Colorado and Georgia, in particular -- are leveraging and going beyond the requirements of the federal programs. For example, if your company does business with the state of Colorado, you need to adhere to certain rules when onboarding new hires. This includes copying their eligibility and identity documents or confirming the eligibility of the new hire to work in the United States via the Employment Eligibility Verification (EEV) program. Government I-9 verification resources
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau (USCIS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have jointly created and enabled the Employment Eligibility Verification Program (also known as The Basic Pilot Program). The EEV program enables employers to use an automated system to verify the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees via online checks of the SSA and DHS databases. Systems are in place to support I-9 processing of new hires including online confirmation that a new employee can legally work in the United States. Through Ceridian's Background Screening Services, employers can take advantage of new I-9 Verification Services. The cost-effective system is easy to use and simple to set up. "Ceridian recognizes the risk to U.S. businesses for failure to comply with federal hiring regulations, as witnessed by recently publicized government enforcement actions," Wells says. "Ceridian's new I-9 Verification Services offers automated tools that access government resources to simplify the employment eligibility verification process and help businesses ensure they are in full compliance." An employer can access the EEV program by different methods, but the easiest is to use a "designated agent" who has created an interface to communicate with the SSA and DHS on your behalf. Ceridian Background Screening has partnered with Sterling Testing Systems to bring this resource to you. Yesterday: Lots of paper
The EEV online process can eliminate the time and paper associated with completing I-9 documentation manually. This year alone, an estimated 56 million I-9 forms will be processed. Each I-9 form has three sections and more than 13 different places where the employee and the employer need to fill in information. This accounts for a lot of time and money as well as the potential chance of errors. It's those errors that can result in fines of up to $1,000 for each I-9 that is filled out or retained incorrectly. Today: Thousands of - bytes
Today, employees and employers can complete I-9 forms electronically, sign them with click signatures and store them digitally. Employers still must maintain a copy of the completed I-9 for three years from date of hire or one year from the date the employee's employment is terminated, whichever is later -- but file cabinets are no longer required. The electronic I-9 has allowed new advancements in automation, such as seamlessly populating new hire data from the front-end hiring system into the I-9 and exporting the data into HR and payroll systems. These applications are coupled with safeguards that enforce compliance and reduce the risks of incorrect, over-documented or under-documented I-9 forms. The electronic I-9 also has the benefit of easy storage and retrieval. Because of the EEV program, the process of verifying eligibility is simple. In real-time, from a designated agent's Web portal, employers can submit a new hire's information to the SSA to determine the accuracy of the Social Security number. The program verifies that the name, date of birth and Social Security number match and belong to the employee. For non-citizens, employers can verify the accuracy of the Immigration "A" number and I-94 arrival/departure number. If the SSA cannot confirm work eligibility of a non-citizen employee, they will automatically communicate to the DHS to determine work eligibility. In a matter of seconds, a reply indicates that the employee's eligibility to work is authorized or that the employee must be referred to the SSA or DHS to resolve employment eligibility. This "tentative non-confirmation" does not necessarily mean that you just hired an illegal worker -- it could mean that there is a misspelling of the employee's name or that some other information doesn't match perfectly. In either case, if a "tentative non-confirmation" response is sent back, the employee has the right to contest. What does it mean to contest?
If the employee contests, they have eight federal business days to go to the SSA or DHS with a letter from their employer stating that there was an issue with the EEV and that they need it rectified. If the issue is rectified, the SSA or DHS will sign and stamp a letter for the employee to give to their employer and the "tentative non-confirmation" is resolved. If the employee does not resolve the issue in the allotted time period, the employer can terminate employment with no legal ramifications. Alternatively, if the employee decides not to contest, the employer can legally terminate the employee immediately. Tomorrow: EEV required?
There is widespread speculation that the U.S. government will make the EEV mandatory, and it appears that this may soon become a reality for employers. In 2006, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate approved broad immigration reform bills that would have mandated EEV program participation. While the debate surrounding the overall immigration issue was highly contentious and the bills were eventually bogged down in election year politics, there was wide-spread consensus that all employers should be required to verify new hires' work eligibility. The Senate is slated in May to begin debate on a comprehensive immigration measure which is expected to include mandatory EEV program participation, and the House leadership has announced that it plans to take up the bill in June. Although it's far from certain at this point, there is a good chance Congress will pass the legislation this year. Ceridian is closely monitoring this legislation through our Government Relations team based in Washington D.C. Below are two articles that Ceridian has published on I-9/Employment Eligibility Verification that may be of additional interest.
Election results: What this could mean for HR policy Immigration reform: A top congressional issue View a diagram of how the Basic Pilot EEV program works. Until the EEV program becomes mandatory, employers have the option not to use that service. But, with a maximum sentence of six months in prison and fines of $3,000 for each illegal immigrant you knowingly hire, is the risk really worth it when an automated I-9 and employment eligibility verification process is just a mouse click away? For more information on Ceridian Background Screening Services, including I-9 Verifications, contact your Ceridian representative.
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