I - 9 Compliance

I-9 Social Security Mismatch

More recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased its focus on the accountability of employers to maintain and ensure that their non-citizen employees possess legal and proper documentation to work in the United States. They are conducting raids of large companies whom they suspect will not produce the required documentation. In fact, ICE has begun to more often bring criminal charges against the employers who are not in compliance. They will seize their illegally-derived assets whereas in the past, they simply applied administrative fines through sanctions. In the last fiscal year, this new approach resulted in 127 criminal convictions, up from 46 the previous fiscal year. More employers are also being charged with money laundering violations, which can result in prison sentences of up to 20 years.

The Social Security Administration is working with ICE to require that employers are taking the several necessary steps in response to any employees who do not have social security numbers that correspond with their records of identification for that certain employee. Steps must be taken to ensure that the employers are protected from enforcement investigations and the subsequent potential liability.

Neera Bahl & Associates, LLC concentrates on these aspects of employer protection:

	Train your company and human resources department on how to respond to the receipt of a social security mismatch letter;
	Educate your company through individual consultation
	Audit current employment documentation to ensure all due diligence has been performed;
	Ensure documents are in order and properly completed;
	Assess the employers’ risk based on the information provided about the company;