The E-Verify system used by the Department of Homeland Security to electronically verify employment eligibility for new employees. In the past, its use has been voluntary for federal employers; Arizona has now made it mandatory for all employers within the state. Additionally, an Executive Order now makes e-verify mandatory for all new federal employees, including federal contractors and their employees, although existing federal employees and federal contractors are not affected.

In a highly controversial piece of legislation, Arizona made it illegal for employers to “knowingly or intentionally employ unauthorized workers” by implementation of the Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA). Those employers who violate this new law may forfeit their business license or have it temporarily suspended, thereby making it impossible for them to conduct business within the state of Arizona.

When this legislation was enacted, several civil rights organizations as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against Arizona in an attempt to forestall implementation of this legislation. Their argument was that federal law does not mandate e-verify, therefore a state does not have the right to do so; further, they argued, immigration law is under the jurisdiction of the federal government and should not be regulated by the individual states.

However, these arguments were unsuccessful and the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the District Court have ruled that Arizona has the right to enact immigration law within its own borders as long as they are not more lax than federal law.

Several other states have enacted mandatory e-verify legislation for all employers and many more have legislation pending. Other states utilize e-verify for state agencies or state agencies and contractors; many states are beginning to follow Arizona’s lead in aggressively pursuing businesses who employ workers who are not here legally. As a result of the ruling by the Supreme Court, more states are expected to enact legislation similar to that of Arizona.

There are currently five classes of states using the e-verify system:

• States that require e-verify for all employers.
• States that require e-verify for all state agencies and their contractors.
• States that require e-verify solely for state agencies.
• States that have legislation pending for e-verify.
• States that have no legislation and none pending for e-verify.

I-9compliance.com’s provides an electronic compliance solution to help you with your I-9 forms, keeping you ready to respond to any I-9 request by the government at a moment's notice. Visit I-9compliance.com and get started today.

South Carolina’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation forced one of the most popular Mexican restaurants in Columbia, South Carolina to shut down its operations. The Board carried out this penalty because of repeated illegal immigration law violations attributed to the establishment.

The Board closed down the local eatery for 10 days, after the restaurant repetitively violated South Carolina’s Illegal Immigration Reform Act with flagrant disregard.

It seems as if the restaurant did not take repeated LLR Board warnings seriously, continuously sneaking illegal employees onto the staff, and putting up false displays of compliance. Though the owners did not seem to expect to, they eventually paid a heavy price. In fact, this is the first complete shut down that South Carolina has seen because of this act.

The Board carried out this business license suspension after an investigation of the establishment occurred in October of 2010. After that investigation, the restaurant had to fire about five employees that were not US citizens. When the LLR board followed up later, they discovered that the restaurant had hired five new workers since the previous investigation, and that the management did not properly verify the new workers for employment eligibility.

In January, the restaurant complied somewhat by agreeing to fire all illegal workers and pay a fine. However, after a March audit, the Board found four new unverified workers again.

The LLR board has warned that if the restaurant continues to disregard their regulations and policies, that the next time, the restaurant will lose its business license for five years.

Ever since these laws went into effect in July 2009, the LLR board has completed audits on approximately 5,800 local businesses. In addition, the Board issued citations to approximately 500 employers regarding employment verification violations.

According to, LLR Board Director Catherine Templeton "Employers who choose to ignore the requirements of the state immigration law in their hiring practices will be penalized." Also according to Templeton, the board’s purpose for such strict adherence to policy is that since the current national economy is in such a poor state, that the board wants to, “ensure that every available job is held by an employee who is legally in this country and authorized to work”.

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If you are a hiring manager at a corporation or the owner of a small or medium business you probably already know just how important it is to maintain compliance with Form I-9 requirements of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) department. The purpose of Form I-9 is to verify the employment eligibility of people seeking to work in the U.S. All businesses, regardless of their size are required to verify the identity and citizenship status of every employee seeking work. They are then required to fill out and maintain a Form I-9 for each employee in their payroll. Companies are not required to submit the filled out form to any government agency. Instead, they are supposed to maintain a filled out I-9 attesting to the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S. The CIS can demand the documents at any time and failure to produce the documents can result in stiff penalties and even seizure of business assets.

As you probably know, just complying with these requirements is hard enough. Going forward though, things could become even harder because of all of the changes that are taking place at the state and federal level these days. The Department of Homeland Security for instance, last year revised its rules relating to I-9 compliance. The new rules require changes to documentation, record keeping and audit trails with regards to I-9 forms. Employers are now allowed to create and retain I-9 forms in electronic format, but there are confusing new requirements relating to the manner in which such electronic forms are to be created, stored, accessed and viewed. Adding to the complexity is the fact that companies need to maintain clear audit trails when converting existing paper based I-9 forms to electronic format.

If you are a HR or hiring manager with a government agency or a company that provides contract services for the government you may be also be subject to new E-Verify requirements. In many states, even private employers are now required to use the E-Verify system as part of the I-9 process. Just two weeks ago for instance, lawmakers in Georgia approved a bill that would require all employers, in the state, regardless of size to use the E-Verify system. The E-Verify system is an employment verification database that is maintained by the DHS. It allows employers to quickly verify the authenticity of Social Security Numbers of employees and to check their immigration status and their eligibility to work in the U.S. Many governments are mandated to use the E-Verify system these days.

The rapid-fire changes that are taking place in this space are being driven by growing calls for immigration reform. The changes are making it increasingly harder for companies to remain on top of I-9 requirements. However, failure to comply can mean serious consequences. Under the new rules, hiring an ineligible worker can attract fines of up to $5,500 per violation. Incomplete or improperly filled I-9 forms can result in fines of $1,100 while knowingly committing document fraud can mean fines of over $3,200 per document. The growing calls for immigration reform at both the state and federal levels are also leading to much greater scrutiny of I-9 compliance which means that companies are under much greater pressure to comply than they were before.

Why Moving To A College Town Can Be Smart

There are many advantages to opening or relocating a business near a university. Whether you own a restaurant, bookstore, or copying service, university students represent a population with free time for recreation, discretionary income and a proven willingness to spend money. During these challenging economic times, the vast majority of college towns have proven themselves to be more economically resilient than other areas.

Another main advantage to doing business in a college town is the large supply of potential employees. College students tend to be willing to work flexible hours. Many of them are also still covered by their parents' health insurance plans, which can save you a lot of money and hassle. Finally, college students tend to be motivated, intelligent and eager to learn professional standards. The high population of such individuals near universities means that you can easily replace employees who leave or fail to perform their jobs adequately.

Why Ensuring I-9 Compliance Is Essential

However, there is one major potential risk factor to consider. Each year, more and more exchange students attend American universities, drawn to the high quality education and world renowned reputation of our schools. Exchange students can make great employees; they tend to be even more motivated, professional and dedicated to achieving success than the average student.

Unfortunately, though, as the number of exchange students has continued to increase, so has the number of incidents where business have been found to be in violation of the federal governments regulations concerning employment verification. Such an incident can be devastating to a small business, necessitating large amounts of time and money spent dealing with legal and bureaucratic systems. Even worse, the reputation and community goodwill that you have worked so hard to build can be significantly damaged.

The Basics of I-9 Compliance

The I-9 form (also known as the Employment Eligibility Verification form) is created by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. As an employer, you use this form to both ensure that a new employee is who they say they are and that they are legally able to work in the United States. Since 1986, federal law has required employers to make certain that all newly hired employees fill out this form.

In addition, employees must provide documents that prove the information included in the form. A wide range of documents are acceptable for this purpose. These include a passport, driver's license, or current temporary resident card.

A National Mexican Restaurant Chain has been forced to fire hundreds of immigrant workers over the past few weeks following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at its Minnesota restaurants. ICE had been conducting a probe that centered on worker employment eligibility at the company’s 50 restaurants here.

ICE had informed the chain several months ago that it was facing an I-9 audit (an inquiry to verify that workers can legally work in the U.S.) according to a company spokesman. ICE found “suspect documents” at 50 of the chain’s Minnesota restaurants, forcing the chain to fire employees. ICE also plans to check I-9 compliance with audits of the chain’s restaurants in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

A National Mexican Restaurant Chain spokesman said that the chain requires two different documents to verify the identity of all of its workers, but forged documents are commonly used by illegal immigrants.

A 35 year-old mother of four, who was working illegally at the chain, accused the chain of knowing beforehand that some workers didn’t have valid papers. She said that the chain fired her without warning after 6 years of employment with the chain. Other immigrants had as much as 10 years of employment with the chain, according to her.

The raids dampen the chain’s plans for expansion, creating disruption for the chain and its employees, according to a National Mexican Restaurant Chain spokesman. The chain had plans to open 145 restaurants this year. Stock gain has skyrocketed more than 500 percent over the last couple of years.

The Obama Administration has targeted 2740 companies for I-9 compliance in the fiscal year ending September 30th. It has fined businesses a record 7 million dollars for those who hired illegal workers.

Both legal and illegal immigrant workers accounted for 24 percent of all workers in the food service and restaurant industries between March, 2009 and March, 2010. National Mexican Restaurant Chain owns and operates nearly 1,100 restaurants and employs about 25,000 nationwide.