It’s no secret that President-elect Donald Trump intends to carry out what he has called the largest mass deportation in U.S. history shortly after taking office.
U.S. employers—particularly those in the manufacturing, food processing, agricultural, construction, and hospitality industries with a relatively unskilled workforce—should immediately prepare for ramped-up government immigration enforcement in the workplace. Employers should get ready to endure a painful process, a sudden loss of workers, and administrative and criminal penalties.
Many employers with a substantial nonprofessional workforce have accumulated workers who may be unauthorized to be in the U.S., whether they entered the country undocumented or overstayed. Employers have been required since 1986 to check the documents of new hires to confirm their identity and work authorization in completing Form I-9, but those documents are easily faked. A rising number of employers have opted or been required to use the government’s electronic E-Verify system, which performs real-time validation against governmental systems. However, readily available counterfeit documents embodying the stolen identities of real citizens or permanent residents will be validated in E-Verify.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has the authority to appear at a worksite with a notice of inspection and/or subpoena and demand that the employer produce the following within three days: historical lists of workers with dates of hire and termination, payroll and tax records, company ownership information, staffing vendor information, all I-9 forms required to be on file, and any copies of identity and authorization documents presented by employees. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will have an expanding national team to inspect these documents.
Margie Faulk is a senior level human resources professional with over 15 years of HR management and compliance experience. A current Compliance Advisor for HR Compliance Solutions, LLC, Margie, has worked as an HR Compliance advisor for major corporations and small businesses in the small, large, private, public and Non-profit sectors. Margie has provided small to large businesses with risk management strategies that protect companies and reduces potential workplace fines and penalties from violation of employment regulations. Margie is bilingual (Spanish) fluent and Bi-cultural.
Margie’s area of expertise includes Criminal Background Screening Policies and auditing, I-9 document correction and storage compliance, Immigration compliance, employee handbook development, policy development, sexual harassment investigations/certified training, SOX regulations, payroll compliance, compliance consulting, monitoring US-based federal, state and local regulations, employee relations issues, internal investigations, HR management, compliance consulting, internal/external audits, and performance management.
Margie is a speaker and accomplished trainer and has created and presented compliance seminars/webinars for over 16 US and International compliance institutes. Margie has testified as a compliance subject matter expert (SME) for several regulatory agencies and against regulatory agencies, thank goodness not on the same day. Margie offers compliance training to HR professionals, business owners, and leadership to ensure compliance with workplace and regulations.
Margie’s unique training philosophy includes providing free customized tools for all attendees. These tools are customized and have been proven to be part an effective risk management strategy. Some of the customized tools include the I-9 Self Audit. Correction and Storage program, Ban the Box Decision Matrix Policy that Employers can provide in a dispute for allegations, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Compliance Guide, Drug-Free Workplace Volatile Termination E-Book and other compliance program tools when attendees register and attend Margie’s trainings.
Margie holds professional human resources certification (PHR) from the HR Certification Institution (HRCI) and SHRM-CP certification from the Society for Human Resources Management. Margie is a member of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE).