Compliance Stuff

Employers have become highly efficient at onboarding new hires. Electronic systems now allow employees to complete tax forms, benefits elections, and employment paperwork before their first day of work. That efficiency has created a surprisingly common compliance problem with Forms I-9, the document employees must complete to establish their legal right to work in the United States. Many employers assume that if a new employee completes onboarding paperwork before their first day, that earlier date becomes the “hire date” for I-9 purposes. Others use the date the offer was accepted or the date the employee was entered into the HR system. None of those dates are correct. For I-9 purposes, the correct date is the employee’s first day of work for pay . Misunderstanding that rule leads to errors that regularly surface during immigration audits. The Legal Definition of “Hire” Federal immigration regulations define “hire” as the commencement of employment for wages or other remuneration. In ...

Takeaways Illinois employers may not rely solely on SSA “no-match,” IRS discrepancy notices, or similar third-party notifications to take disciplinary or termination action. Employers must meet strict notice , timing, and communication requirements, including providing employees an opportunity to respond and to involve a representative. Employees, the attorney general, and designated advocacy organizations may bring civil actions. Illinois has enacted a significant expansion of the Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act, imposing new substantive and procedural requirements on how employers must respond when they receive notices reporting discrepancies in an employee’s Social Security number , Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or other identifying information. While the notices themselves are not new, I llinois SB 2339 has established a comprehensive framework governing how employers may act upon them, with heightened litigation exposure for employers. The law takes effect imme...

The Trump administration continues to focus on worksite enforcement to achieve its immigration policy objectives. This includes Form I-9 audits as well as possible worksite raids. The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) recently updated its guidance page, reminding employers of important nuances under state law when a California employer is faced with immigration agency enforcement actions. Quick Hits California law requires an employer to notify its current employees of a federal immigration agency Form I-9 audit, and to provide results of such inspections to affected employees. California law prohibits employers from providing “voluntary consent” to federal immigration agents to access nonpublic areas or employment records without a judicial warrant or subpoena. Assembly Bill (AB) 450 , known as the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, took effect on January 1, 2018, and sets forth requirements for California employers in handling U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DH...

On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Justice Department’s request to lift  U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen’s March 31 order   halting the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) rescission of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Venezuelans. Under the rescission, announced in a  Federal Register Notice on Feb. 5, 2025 , Venezuelans who registered for TPS under former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ October 3, 2023, designation of Venezuela for TPS, would have lost their TPS-based work authorizations on April 2, 2025, while TPS itself would have expired on April 7, 2025 . While the language of the Federal Register Notice indicates that Venezuelan TPS holders who registered under the 2023 designation will no longer be work authorized, the Supreme Court specifically noted that its  Miscellaneous Order (05/19/2025)  does not preclude challenges to any DHS actions that seek to invalidate TPS documents, including work auth...

Takeaways: Increased Worksite Enforcement:  Businesses can expect a surge in ICE raids and I-9 audits at workplaces. Impact on Sanctuary Cities:  Federal agents will target sanctuary cities for immigration enforcement operations. Employer Preparedness:  Businesses, especially those operating in sanctuary cities, should have an action plan ready for potential ICE enforcement actions. Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, has announced a significant escalation in the administration’s interior immigration enforcement strategy to increase deportation of undocumented immigrants. The initiative involves deploying more federal agents to places of work, particularly those in “sanctuary cities.” Targeting Sanctuary Cities Although there is no official definition, in general a sanctuary city limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies often to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.  Limited cooperation can take many forms, such a...

  President Donald Trump is just 21 days into his second term in office, but you might already be struggling to keep up with the number of changes and policy shifts coming from the new administration. While new presidents are typically judged based on their actions in their first 100 days, Trump’s whirlwind first three weeks warrant taking a pause to make sure you’re caught up on all the changes impacting key workplace issues. Major policy shifts have already affected immigration, DEI programs, equal employment opportunity, labor relations, and artificial intelligence. Here’s your 21-day recap: 1. Immigration What happened?  President Trump  took swift immigration action , signing 10 executive orders relating to immigration policy on day one. Among other things, those orders  declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border ,  reinstated the "remain in Mexico" policy and terminated the asylum-related mobile app , and  designated Mexican criminal car...