I-9 audits are predicted to be a record high this year, according to Business Management Daily, so those invested in human resource planning need to prepare for them. An I-9 form looks at employees and demonstrates their ability to work in the U.S. Companies must document all their workers and make sure they are all either U.S. citizens, permanent residents or foreign residents who are authorized to work in the U.S. To put it simply, an I-9 audit is done by the government to make sure that this is in fact truly the case.
In 2013, Business Management reported, I-9 audits were conducted at 3,127 employers. That is an increase from 2012, and an additional increase from 2011. Likely, the trend of further I-9 inspections will continue through 2014 and beyond.
Begin with self-audits
To ensure that I-9 forms accurately represent the working status of employees, National Law Review recommended that companies conduct self-audits of their I-9 forms. If information is missing on the form itself, or if support documentation is out of date or not present and accounted for, then this can be fixed before the government intervenes with a full audit. Supporting documents for I-9 forms must be clear and easy to read. Photocopies of birth certificates or passports are useful only if they are clearly legible. This means that if the employee provides a blurry photocopy of a document, the employer should ask for better documentation to avoid the risk of noncompliance with U.S. regulations.
If the supporting I-9 documentation for certain employees has gone missing or cannot be found because the files have been moved somewhere, then it would be appropriate to ask for the documentation again. Keep in mind that employers can usually only ask for supporting documents if there is already an I-9 in existence, with section 2 fully filled out.
Notes on over-documentation
In a separate article, the National Law Review suggested that over-documentation is just as bad – potentially worse – than under-documentation. For example, a company might be discriminating against an employee if it rejects a reasonable photocopy of a passport that is not too blurry to read. Asking for the passport itself is not allowed if the photocopy is good enough. Additionally, employers cannot ask for extra documentation if the employee has presented enough paperwork already. Finally, a company is not allowed to ask for different papers than what are usually required – for example, if an employee is a foreign national, then his or her visa, along with proof of authorization to work, is enough. That person does not need to present a birth certificate or anything else.
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