Delayed again: for the 4th time in 2009, the U.S. government has delayed the start of mandatory E-Verify compliance, extending the deadline from June 30 to at least Sept. 8.
The U.S. Dept. of Justice recently asked a federal court in Maryland for a stay, where the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed suit against the law, saying it needs more time to review the rule and its implications. The stay was granted on Tuesday.
THE PROBLEM: delaying the inevitable. As I continue to discuss I-9 compliance with dozens of employers and their attorneys, I am flabbergasted at how these extensions seem to take the wind out of the sails of those companies understanding the critical need to establish a compliance plan BEFORE E-Verify becomes mandatory.
THE SOLUTION: it remains my admittedly self-serving opinion (given that I have been conducting audits for the last decade and a half) that ALL U.S. EMPLOYERS should establish an internal I-9 compliance protocol beginning with a comprehensive audit, moving on to digitization of all paper I-9s, and integrating a turnkey application, such as I-9 Advantage, into the hiring process.
P.S. I-9 audits are the single most boring thing I have ever done in practicing law, and a constant reminder of why I could have never followed my father’s footsteps in accounting…(-;
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