New I-9 Enforcement Focus: How to Keep Employee Files in Compliance

New I-9 Enforcement Focus Webinar Recording

A big shift has occurred in the government's crackdown on illegal workers. Out: SWAT teams surrounding a factory or business and rushing in to catch workers without the proper papers. In: Auditors with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement singling out your business and poring over I-9s and other employment records, looking for any mistake in your documentation or even with your processes. It's a less dramatic approach, but the focus is now more on catching employers than possible illegal employees. In fact, all of your people may be legal, but the government will still hold you accountable if your paperwork processes aren't up to their standards.

No employer is immune from immigration scrutiny, and an organization that ignores problems with its procedures designed to keep a legal workforce is risking ruinous fines and penalties.

Even without the passage of immigration reform legislation, investigators are finding new ways to root out potential law violations. Surprisingly, in some instances, investigators have gotten around the requirement of giving employers 72 hours of notice that their I-9s are going to be inspected, in this fashion: When they show up on the scene, they don't ask for the I-9s, therefore, the notice requirement isn't triggered. Instead, they immediately begin interviewing employees and find out from them if your immigration documentation processes are lacking in any way. For these reasons and many more, employers need up-to-date, expert information to ensure they’re in compliance with the law. 

Participate in this interactive webinar, and you'll learn:

I. What the current climate is surrounding compliance with immigration law

• Which organizations are the targets of this crackdown
• Common problems turned up in I-9 audits
• Tricky issues that employers might not recognize
• Tactics the government is using to root out compliance problems
• What various government agencies can and can’t do regarding employers
• The status of state laws related to immigration

II. Consequences of noncompliance

• Possible penalties and fines you may face
• Ways to mitigate the dangers
• Dangers of misusing information contained in I-9 forms
• What "actual or constructive knowledge" means when an employee isn’t authorized to work in the United States
• What to do about no-match letters

III. How to achieve compliance

• How to identify the major elements in a policy on compliance
• How to fill out the I-9 paperwork -- and how to train employees who are involved in the process
• What a policy should include, including how long an I-9 should be kept
• How to make sure a policy on immigrant workers doesn’t endanger at-will employment
• How the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program works
• The specifics about internal and external I-9 audits

In just 90 minutes, you'll get up-to-date on everything you need to know to prevent ICE auditors from knocking on your door. Register now for this interactive event risk-free.

This webinar was recorded on Thursday, February 16, 2012

New I-9 Enforcement Focus: How to Keep Employee Files in Compliance

About Your Speakers:

Attorney Hector A. Chichoni, a partner at Duane Morris LLP in Miami, focuses his practice on U.S. and global immigration law. He represents corporate and individual clients, including health care organizations, Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations and universities, doctors, professors, researchers, and students. Mr. Chichoni represents employers in connection with I-9 compliance and work-site enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the course of his professional life, he has published numerous articles and spoken at many seminars on the subject of I-9. Mr. Chichoni has represented clients in a wide variety of cases before the U.S. Immigration Court. He is a member of various professional organizations including the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He also is listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and is a frequent speaker and commentator on immigration topics.

Attorney Valentine A. Brown, a partner at Duane Morris LLP in Philadelphia, serves as global immigration law counsel to a diverse group of multinational and domestic corporations and their employees, providing advice, compliance audits, and representation to help navigate the intricacies of U.S. and foreign immigration laws. She also is an instructor for the Duane Morris Institute, which provides training in all areas of employment law for human resource professionals, in-house counsel, benefits administrators, and managers through classes in Philadelphia, client-site trainings, and webinars. Her courses include I-9 Compliance Basics; E-Verify for Everyone; E-Verify for Federal Contractors; Electronic I-9s: The Pros, the Cons and the Requirements; and H-1B Public Access Files: What Employers Need to Know.