ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

What is an I-9 Audit?

Updated on July 28, 2012

The Difference Between I-9 Audit and E-Verify

Many people are familiar with E-Verify, a program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that verifies an employee’s eligibility to work in the United States. The E-Verify program doesn’t verify citizenship or resident status and can only be used for new hires, not on current employees or past employees. The exception to this is if an employer has a new contract with a state or federal entity, then all workers, whether current or new hires, must submit to E-Verify if the employees are involved in the work relating to the new contract.

Because E-Verify can only be used on new hires, ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) conducts audits on employers around the country and reviews I-9 forms. These I-9 audits make it possible for ICE to audit an employer's current employees as well as past employees.


What is an I-9 Form?

Form I-9 is what most people fill out on the first day of a new job. It requires the employer to verify a person’s identity and verify that an employee is authorized to work in the United States. Most of us hand over our driver’s license (identity) and social security card (work authorization). Form I-9 can be found here.

The Department of Homeland Security indicates that Form I-9 must be retained by the employer for a period of three years or one year after the date employment ends, whichever is later.

Basically, employers need to retain Form I-9 for at least three years AFTER the employee-employer relationship is terminated.

Form I-9 is not submitted to any government agency to verify that the documents given to the employer are not false or stolen. It is the employer’s responsibility to review all the documents and determine if the documents are legitimate.

ICE states: Employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record the individual's identity and employment eligibility document(s) and determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual.


How does ICE decide which employers to audit?

ICE determines which employers to audit by leads and tips. These leads and tips often come from an employee within the company. ICE also indicates that “other investigational means” are used to determine which employers are audited.


What is the procedure for an I-9 audit?

Once ICE determines which employers to audit, NOIs (Notice of Inspection) are either mailed to employers or hand delivered to employers by ICE agents. Sometimes armed ICE agents will enter the employer’s place of business and serve the employers in person.

In addition to I-9 forms, ICE agents are able to request and inspect payroll records and other accounting information and/or methods in order to obtain an accurate list of employees. I-9 forms are checked against the DHS databases.

After inspecting documents, employers may be given an NOSD (Notice of Suspect Documents), a list of employees whose identity and/or work authorization doesn’t match up with the DHS databases.

The NOSD may also list employees who do not have authorization to work in the U.S. When this occurs, employers are notified that if the employee continues to work, the employer is subject to fines and/or prosecution.


Possible fines associated with I-9 audits:

Employers may receive an NOIF (Notice of Intent to Fine).

Employers can be fined for not retaining I-9 forms on current and past employees.

Employers can also be fined for typos on I-9s. These paperwork fines can range from $100 to $1100, per I-9.

If ICE has determined that an employer knowingly hired employees who are not authorized to work in the U.S., these fines range from $375 to $3200, per employee.

If an employer wishes to contest the fines, the employer must file a request for a hearing within 30 days of receiving an NOIF; otherwise, the NOIF becomes the final order.

Because the fines can amount to large fortunes, it is sometimes advisable for employers to contact an attorney immediately upon receiving an NOI.

In 2010, Amercrombie and Fitch paid over $1 million dollars as settlement for fines. Although it was determined that Ambercrombie and Fitch did not knowingly hire people who were unauthorized to work in the U.S., ICE did find that there were “numerous technology-related deficiencies” within the company’s electronic I-9 verification system.

Since 2009, I-9 audits have generated about $7 million dollars in fines from employers.


Deportations after I-9 audits and Worker’s Rights:

The Department of Homeland Security does state that ICE will process for removal any workers who are found to be undocumented through I-9 audits.

Workers and worker advocates can find out more information about I-9 audits and worker rights by following this link to National Immigration Law Center.


working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)