So far in this series of tips to avoid common I-9 mistakes, we’ve talked about the timeframe for completing the Form I-9, how long employers should retain I-9 records and when the reverification process should be performed. Next, we’re turning our attention to a topic that is equally as important: discrimination.

Tip #4: Understand the rules regarding employment discrimination.

The I-9 compliance process can be complicated, and it’s important to understand the rules in order to avoid costly fines and to maintain compliance. While it is important to follow the appropriate procedures and to verify employees, many employers make the mistake of being overly cautious to the point of discrimination. It’s important to remember that it is illegal to discriminate against any applicant based on their national origin, race, color, religion, age, sex, disability or genetic information.

An example of employment discrimination may be an employer who chooses to hire only American citizens. Unless U.S. citizenship is required for a specific position by law, regulation, executive order or federal, state or local government contract, jobs must not be limited only to U.S. Citizens.

Also, keeping copies of an employee’s documentation (showing that they are an alien authorized to work in the United States) can be a violation of anti-discrimination laws—unless you maintain the same documentation for all employees. Singling out any one person qualifies as discrimination.

There’s one more blog post coming up in this series, but if you’d like a handy resource including all five tips, feel free to download our complimentary guide today.

Now, we’d like to know: Do you feel that the regulations regarding employment discrimination are easy to understand?

We’re continuing our series about common I-9 mistakes with a tip that focuses on record-keeping—specifically, how long employee I=9 forms should be retained. Managing employee documentation and I-9 forms is an important part of the compliance process, but many employers are confused about how long they should retain employee records and if it’s acceptable to discard records after an employee no longer works for the company.

Tip #2: Retain your I-9 records.

So how long are you required to maintain an employee’s I-9 form? The answer is: you must maintain an employee’s I-9 form either 3 years after the date of hire or one year after the date that employment is terminated—whichever is later.

It sounds simple enough, but failing to maintain records in this way can be a serious violation. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Handbook for Employers:

“If an employer’s action or inaction result in the alteration, loss, or erasure of electronic records, and the employer knew, or reasonably should have known, that the action or inaction could have that effect, the employers is in violation of section 274A(b)(3) of the INA (8 CFR Part 274a.2(g)(2)).”

Many employers simply opt to maintain all employee records on a permanent basis—that approach will work too, but it’s not a practical solution for everyone. Just make it a rule to follow the regulations put forward by the government in order to maintain compliance.

If you don’t want to wait for our next blog posts and would like to read all five of our helpful tips to avoid common I-9 mistakes, feel free to download our complimentary guide now!

We’re curious: Do you keep your employee records only as long as necessary, or do you retain them on a permanent basis?

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.

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.