Ketchikan Drywall Services v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, No. 11-73105 (9th Cir. Aug. 6, 2013): Ouch, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld $172,000 in penalties against the employer for failing to maintain correctly completed I-9 Forms. The employer argued that it substantially complied with the law by copying the relevant documents and attaching them to incomplete I-9 Forms. It argued: “it is senseless to require employer and employees to waste the time necessary to transcribe information onto I-9 Forms when that information is already available on an attached copy of the relevant document.”
The Court did not see it that way, stating: “But requiring that the parties take the time to copy information onto the I-9 Form helps to ensure that they actually review the verification documents closely enough to ascertain that they are facially valid and authorize the individual to work in the United States . . . It is neither arbitrary nor capricious to require that employers actually complete their I-9 Forms.”
For more on the Court’s decision, click here.