Help with I-9 Forms!!!
HR Mouse
53 Posts
O.K. - I started with this company late 2007. The girl they had handling HR/payroll, etc. before me really didn't know HR at all & left me a HUGE mess! I am now starting an audit for the Form I9 (a self-audit) and am finding that the former HR Admin. didn't fill these out (Section 2), didn't get ID's for most of them, the employee barely filled out Section 1 (including no signatures), etc. Basically, they are a complete mess!
Now, for the background on our company & WHY I'm starting to panic.......we are in the Landscaping Industry (we have 2 Landscape Supply Centers & a Garden Center) and the majority of our personnel is seasonal. They work typically from March through November and are on Leave of Absense from December through February - usually during their LOA they leave the state or the country (they go back to Mexico). So, now my questions are as follows:
Since our I9 Files are pretty useless can I and SHOULD I have everyone fill out a new I9??? And since the form was revised by the Dept of Homeland Security in Dec 2007 what impact will this have on our seasonal employee's who originally "filled it out" using documentation from List A of Acceptable Documents??? If they (for instance) provided one of the documents from the Old List A back when they were originally hired and that happens to be one of the 5 documents which were removed from the New List A would that pose a problem for us as the employer? What happens if they don't have one of the 5 documents remaining on the New List A??? Also, for our seasonal employees how often can we have them complete a Form I9? Can we require it every time they return from LOA in the Spring? We don't actually terminate them in our Payroll system or anything.....they are just considered "On Leave" unless they inform us in the Fall that they will not be returning the following Spring. I'm so confused!
I'm really concerned for our employees coming back to work in the next couple weeks and also for the company. What do I do????
Comments
In the end, auditors care about whether or not you've taken appropriate corrective action. That doesn't mean that they wont fine the Company, but the fine will depend a lot on how much they think the Company's violations were willful.
The safest thing to do is re-verify everyone. How you sell that to the EEs is up to you. Attach the newly verified I-9 to the old one with a letter of explanation. Saying that you found a problem in an internal audit and corrected it is a good thing. From the new handbook:
Q. Can I accept documents that were on previous editions of the Form I-9 but aren’t now?
A. No. Employers may only accept documents listed on the Lists of Acceptable Documents on the June 5, 2007 or any subsequent version of the Form I-9. When reverifying employees, employers also should ensure that they use the most recent version of the form
The new handbook can be found at http://www.uscis.gov/files/nativedocuments/m-274.pdf
Here is the base link on the topic: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=1914c9676d006110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=1847c9ee2f82b010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD
To start: you can and should have everyone who doesn't have a correctly completed I-9 form fill out a new one. They would need to present either something on the current List A or something on the current Lists B and C. (Note: even if they gave List A document before does not mean that they cannot give you Lists B and C documents now.)
If an employee is on a Leave of Absence, you do not need to have them fill out a new one unless the document is one that is required to be unexpired. If the document must be unexpired, then you would update the I-9 form in section C with an updated document.
I would audit all of the forms. If there is something wrong on the form, then have the employee complete a new form. Keep the old form with the new form. You will need to attach a letter to each that states you completed a self audit, found a problem and are correcting the issue by having the individual complete a new form. Here is a sample letter:
To: I-9 Auditors
From: <your name>
RE: I-9 Audit
Date: <date>
Recently we completed an I-9 audit. It was discovered that we did not have a correctly completed I-9 form on file for <name of employee>. To resolve this issue we have had <name of employee> complete a new I-9 form. Both the old form and the new form are attached.