The Importance of I-9 Accuracy, or How One Form Can Tear Down an Empire
We recently sent out an HR update regarding the new I-9 form that came into effect on 11/01/23. Several of our HR friends reached out to thank us for the update – it’s one of those things that is easy to overlook because, quite frankly, no one likes doing them. I-9 forms, while bound by many legal requirements, are not top on the list of the employee experience when it comes to onboarding.
Perhaps this is why they are so often done incorrectly. When we at HR Affiliates start working with organizations to help them maximize their employee experience, we almost always find errors with the I-9 process and the form completion. This includes organizations with highly organized and dedicated professionals who are paying attention to the process. Why are there so many errors on these forms?
Most of the time, we find that it is because the individuals administering the I-9s haven’t been thoroughly trained. While it seems simple enough to follow the instructions to properly fill out the form, there is a lot of data to be collected, and it has to be done in a very specific way. The form is confusing to people who do not use it every day. Also, the employee filling out their portion is often unsupervised, and their mistakes are not caught until well after the fact (you would be surprised how many employees fail to sign or put their birthdates where the signature date should be).
Here are the most common mistakes we see:
- Not completing the form within the required timeframe. Section 1 by the employee must be completed by the end of the day, the first day of employment. Section 2 by the employer must be completed by the end of the third day of employment. Remember, these are employer business days; if your business operates over the weekend, those days count.
- Employers not fully or correctly recording the document title, issuing authority, and expiration date
- Employers recording too much information
- Employers requiring employees to provide specific documents
- Only recording a List B or List C document, but not both
- Only making copies of some of the documents
- Making corrections on the form without initialing and dating them
- Accepting unacceptable documents
- Employers aren’t looking at the actual documents, or are accepting copies of documents
- Employees don’t identify their citizenship status
- Employees not signing and dating Section 1
- Employees don’t acknowledge whether or not they used a preparer/translator
- Employers not listing the date of hire in Section 2
- Employers not signing or dating Section 2
- Employers not completing their part at all
When you look at that list, it’s easier to see everything that can go wrong with this “simple” form.
Then there is the entirely different process of re-verification. This is for employees who are on temporary authorizations. Employers need to make sure they have a process in place to update the documents once they expire. However, this is only for temporary work authorizations (we can share the tale of more than one dedicated employer that was filling out a new I9 every time a driver’s license was renewed. Don’t do this). And don’t forget new hires! You must complete a new Form I-9 when a hire takes place, unless you are rehiring an employee within three years of the date the employee’s previous Form I-9 was completed.
The penalties for incorrectly completing I-9s are significant if audited and assessed. To prevent major headaches and major expenses, employers need to be proactive in addressing this issue. Imagine the tragedy of a successful company losing profits because of hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines (for paperwork violations, the penalties range from approximately $250 to $2700 for the first offense for substantive violations or uncorrected technical errors, per error, and increase to $5400 to $27000 for second and subsequent errors. Imagine having technical errors on 100 I9 forms).
How should employers reduce their risk? First, make sure everyone who administers I-9 completion is properly trained, and make sure you are using the most current form.
Second, conduct an internal audit on your I-9s. Demonstrating a good faith effort to correct mistakes before an audit will be in your favor. However, employers need training on how to conduct an audit, as well, and especially on how to document and make corrections.
Since ICE can inspect employer form I-9s with only three days’ notice of inspection, we recommend this review be on everyone’s 2024 HR action plan if you have not already gone through the process. HR Affiliates can help train your team to do the audit, or we can do the audit (and corrections) with you.
January 4, 2024