As far as the job search goes, we at YES! Your Human Resources Solution have good news for your company—it’s still a hirer’s market.  Thanks to recruitment through social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, today’s talent pool includes workers from all over the world.  All these diverse workers have one thing in common: to legally work for your company, they must be eligible for employment in the United States.  As your company’s Human Resources professional, it’s your job to make sure this is true!

Thankfully you have the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form to help you out.  As part of the federal immigration regulatory process, each new hire must complete this form and provide documents to verify identity and employment authorization.  You then keep those documents in a filing cabinet for future reference.

…and by “future reference,” we mean if the government comes to look through your filing cabinet, so you should know what happens when these forms resurface as part of an I-9 audit.  In an I-9 audit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) serves a Notice of Inspection, which requires a company to make their I-9 forms available for inspection—sometimes in only a matter of days.

The bad news is, ICE has stepped up its I-9 audits in recent years, inspecting thousands of businesses across the country and levying millions of dollars in fines against all areas of business, from food production to financial services to construction.

But more good news!—here at YES! Your Human Resources Solution, we have an arsenal ready to help you conquer I-9 compliance before ICE comes knocking.  For starters, here are some basic tips to keep you ahead of the audit game:

• Ask each job seeker whether he/she is authorized to work in the United States.  Do not ask about place of birth or national origin.
• Have each new hire fill out a Form I-9 within three days of starting work.
• Be sure the documents that confirm identity and authorization to work are included in the lists on the back of the I-9 form and that they appear genuine.  Accept originals only.  Support document retention is not required in California, but discussion with your company employment counsel should be sought before deciding to whether to retain supporting documents.
• Never alter an existing I-9.
• Store I-9s for current employees in alphabetical order in one filing area.  Store I-9s for terminated employees in chronological order in a separate filing area.
• Keep I-9s on file at least three years for current employees, and at least one year after an employee has left the company, whichever is longer.

To ensure continued compliance, we recommend an annual internal review of all I-9 files.  And of course, I-9 review is also part of a comprehensive Human Resources audit.

We like to think of the HR audit as your company’s preemptive strike, so you won’t be blindsided by a compliance audit from ICE.  The experienced HR professionals at YES! Your Human Resources Solution can help you prepare.  We’ll review your employee data and eligibility forms for compliance, and we’ll make recommendations to help your business avoid costly penalties.  (Don’t forget to talk to your legal team about the final changes!)  And that’s just one of the many benefits of a comprehensive YES! HR audit.

Don’t let concerns about employment eligibility keep you from hiring top international talent!  Discover how your business can put our firepower to work for you.  Visit our website or contact us today for a free consultation!