Job hunters think the worst part of getting hired for a new job is getting through the interview process.
But for employers, with massive increases in the number of audits, the most worrying part comes after they’ve already decided on a new hire: I-9 compliance.
The government has shifted its focus from deporting illegal immigrants to penalizing employers who have not been diligent during the hiring process.
The federal government’s famous I-9 form, which helps establish a new employee’s work authorization eligibility, is the primary target of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.). In fact, I.C.E. audits have more than quadrupled over the last three years. Unknowing employers can face fines of up to $1,100 per incorrect I-9, or even jail time.
There are 185 possible error points on an I-9 form. Some studies indicate that more than 65 percent of all manually completed paper I-9s contain errors. Complicating matters, I.C.E. can go back three years on audits – while employers only get three days to produce records when I.C.E. comes knocking on their door.
Rodney Walker, owner of 40 Taco Bell restaurants in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, knows this. “From managing social security errors, to completing I-9s, to ensuring employee handbooks have been read and signed, compliance issues can be a real nightmare,” he says. “Before JobApp, this was all managed manually with paper.”
Employers who use JobApp Network’s automated hiring system, however, speed through the compliance process in onboarding new hires. Its automated, integrated I-9 and E-Verify feature, with 150 built-in compliance rules developed in partnership with a former I.C.E. agent and current immigration lawyer, dramatically reduces mistakes.
Wendy’s franchisee Sinkula Investments HR Director, Scott McGarvey, SPHR, says JobApp’s I-9 feature sold him. “In my experience, managers are generally not well enough informed about the I-9 and JobApp eliminates considerable risk,” McGarvey says.
