STAY IN COMPLIANCE: AVOID THE "I-9" FINE

As an employer, your organization presently verifies employment eligibility of prospective new hires using Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, published by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”). As of January 22, 2017, employers must use CIS’ updated version of Form I-9, or face a penalty of up to $2,000 for a first time violation and up to $10,000 per violation if your organization has previously been sanctioned for improperly screening applicants.

Ensuring use of the latest form is quite straightforward: the most-current Form I-9 has the date “11/14/2016” printed at the bottom left of each page, and can be downloaded from the CIS website by following this link: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9.

Lastly, CIS’ rules for storage and retention of Forms I-9 have not changed, so employers should continue to follow those procedures for all previous and future forms.

PLDO will continue to monitor and report on news and information to support your organization. For further information on this issue or other business and employment law matters, contact attorneys Joel K. Goloskie and William E. O’Gara at 401-824-5100 or email jgoloskie@pldolaw.com and wogara@pldolaw.com.

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