Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.Brad Kuiper is no stranger to audits.
The 61-year-old runs Rainbow Building Services, a small maintenance, janitorial and remodeling outfit based in Gretna, and Heartland Pest Control.
Over the past 30 years, Kuiper's businesses have been scrutinized and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Labor Department. Now, the small businesses' owner has his fingers crossed that an audit from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, isn't next.
Kuiper's anxiety comes after ICE notified 1,000 businesses across the country that the agency wants to review their I-9 worker documentation forms, the paperwork employers use to confirm an employee's identity and legal status. So far, neither of Kuiper's businesses have been hit with an audit notification, but the uneasiness remains.
“They kind of put you on edge when they come in,” Kuiper said of governmental agency audits. “It makes you concerned about something that you may have overlooked. It's an inconvenience.”
The ICE notices are sent on a regular basis and the latest went out in mid-June, mostly to companies that have operations in infrastructure and national security, such as airports, an agency spokesman said.
The notices have stoked mixed feelings from small-business owners, such as Kuiper.
On one hand, an I-9 audit can be a costly endeavor if businesses are not prepared and well-organized. Improper or missing paperwork could lead to fines or full-blown ICE investigations. The process is similar to tax audits performed by the Internal Revenue Service.
On the other hand, law-abiding small businesses feel the paperwork checks could help eradicate or at least discipline competitors who hire illegal workers at lower wages, giving them a competitive advantage, said Bob Hallstrom, director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses in Nebraska.
According to past surveys from the NFIB, more small-business members in Nebraska support the I-9 audits than oppose them.
After ICE released the audit notices, the NFIB issued its own alert to small businesses, urging them to be prepared if they indeed received a notification.
Some suggestions were simple: Have forms completed accurately for all new hires; accept only original, required documents, not photocopies, from foreign employees; keep I-9 forms separate from other personnel files; keep files for terminated employees; avoid using whiteout on I-9 gaffes.
Others tips were more serious. For example: “Contact an attorney immediately if you receive notice from ICE.”
ICE provides only 72 hours to assemble documentation, NFIB told businesses. And “fines for I-9 violations range from $110 to $1,100 for one single, minor, or technical violation.” Incorrect I-9 forms can be used as evidence of knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant and lead to a fine of up to $3,200 per violation.
An ICE spokesman said the fine amounts outlined by the NFIB were misleading and that penalties can change for each case.
Based on the ICE audit data for 2010, employers who receive notices might be wise to take additional precautions because the agency is cracking down harder on businesses that don't comply with I-9 requirements.
According to agency figures, in 2010, ICE conducted 2,196 audits, 752 more than the agency did in 2009.
That increase in audits led to a significant increase in criminal arrests of employers. In 2010, 196 business owners were arrested, compared with 114 in 2009.
The most glaring statistic businesses should take note of is what ICE refers to as “final orders,” or sanctions and fines levied against businesses. In 2010, ICE issued 237 final orders worth nearly $7 million in fines — a big spike compared with the 52 sanctions and $1.03 million in fines during 2009.
Those numbers are a reflection of the federal government's strategy shift on workplace enforcement. Since 2009, instead of conducting large-scale immigration raids that ended with employees being arrested, ICE has “focused on finding evidence to criminally charge employers and to increase the use of tools like I-9 audits, fines and debarment,” an ICE spokesman said.
Despite more audits being conducted, there's a limit to how much enforcement actually takes place.
“In the U.S. there are roughly 7 million businesses,” the ICE spokesman said. “ICE doesn't have that many auditors, less than a few hundred, and there's only so much a few hundred people can do. So the odds of getting away with something are pretty good, unless you're doing something egregious.”
For this round of audits, at least, Kuiper, the small-business owner, feels confident his businesses are in the clear. But that doesn't mean he's paying any less attention to his I-9 and worker documentation forms.
“It has to be a focus in business, so we try to be upfront with those things,” Kuiper said. “It's not a tremendous burden, so as long as we keep things in order, we shouldn't have any fines.”
Contact the writer: 402-444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com, twitter.com/rossboettcher
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