Employers: Don’t Get Fined – Start Using the New I-9 By September 18, 2017

With all that is going on in the world of labor and employment law, it can be difficult to keep up. Don’t let this one slip past you.

On September 18, 2017, employers must use the revised Form I-9 with a revision date of 07/17/17 N. A copy can be found here. No matter what the changes, whether deemed to be meaningful/significant or not, the new form must be used. For violations relating to the I-9, significant fines can be imposed. Fines were nearly doubled last year, effective August 1, 2016. So beware!

Changes include a change of the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices to its new name, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section. Also “the end of” was removed from the phrase “the first day of employment.” Furthermore, the list of acceptable documents was revised. The Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) was added to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will now be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Section 2 and Section 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9. All the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350 and Form FS-240) were combined into selection C#2 in List C. All List C documents were renumbered except the Social Security card. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C changes from List C #8 to List C #7.

A revised version of the Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274) can be found here, which allegedly provides for easier navigation for users (compared with the prior version).

Happy hiring!