With revamped program, feds reach out to Las Vegas businesses on hiring issues

By Tovin Lapan

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 | 7:05 p.m.

In an effort to foster more collaboration between employers and the federal government, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week is sponsoring its first Las Vegas seminar to introduce businesses to a program that aims to eliminate the hiring of workers without a legal status.

Under the program, employers enter into an agreement with ICE to follow certain procedures, including using the federal E-Verify system and conducting an annual internal audit of employment eligibility documents, known as the I-9 form, while ICE provides one-on-one training, a local liaison to work with the employer and a guarantee that program participants would not be audited for at least two years, among other benefits.

The program, ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, or IMAGE, was first started in 2006, but it was not until about a year ago that ICE started to proactively reach out to businesses and encourage participation through informational seminars and training sessions. The program was also streamlined to simplify the process for registration and participation.

“Prior to the new IMAGE program being implemented, we were only getting a trickle of companies,” said Roy Casas, ICE special agent and the Los Angeles/Las Vegas IMAGE coordinator. “With the outreach and revamped program, interest has jumped. The spigot has been turned on full blast. There are 186 businesses participating and the diversity is striking, from mom-and-pop stores to large corporations.”

Casas said ICE would like to “partner” with businesses more and work with them to make sure they are in compliance with the law rather than using fines and audits as policing mechanisms.

“IMAGE helps promote industry self-policing and allows ICE to focus on other aspects of the homeland security mission. This only helps us focus our resources where they are needed most,” he said.

Under the Obama administration, audits of employers have risen steadily, and those businesses found to have undocumented workers on the payroll face stiff penalties.

The number of I-9 audits have increased in each of the past three fiscal years, with 1,444 audits in 2009, 2,196 in 2010 and 2,496 in 2011, figures from ICE show. Accordingly, the number of fines has also gone up, from 52 fines for $1 million in fiscal year 2009, to 237 fines totaling $6.9 million in 2010 and 385 fines for $10.5 million in 2011.

Ever since the Immigration Control and Reform Act passed in 1986, employers have been required to document their employees’ eligibility to work. Employers face criminal and civil penalties for failing to do so.

“One thing about an audit is that it exposes a business to enforcement,” said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice. “It can be so disruptive to a business to lose workers suddenly when an audit determines they are ineligible to work. Imagine losing a quarter or a third of your workforce. One of the potential benefits of participating in a program like this is that you know you are hiring and maintaining a lawful work force and there shouldn’t be any unanticipated interruptions in business.”

A similar seminar last year in Los Angeles drew attendees from approximately 200 businesses, Kice said. In Las Vegas, about 100 businesses have already signed up for the training and information session. There is no charge for participation in the seminar or the IMAGE program, and those who sign up for IMAGE receive the E-Verify software and additional training and assistance for free.

The seminar will be from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Embassy Suites Hotel and Convention Center, and registrations are still being accepted.

At the seminar, employers will be able to ask questions of immigration officials about the program and immigration rules and policy. Training will be provided on filling out the I-9 form, establishing an immigration compliance program, proper hiring procedures, detecting fraudulent documents, using E-Verify, and methods for avoiding discrimination based on an applicant’s immigration status.

In January, the University of California San Diego Medical Center paid $115,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Justice Department that accused the medical center of violating federal law by treating citizens and noncitizens differently when determining whether they could work in the United States.

Several attorneys who specialize in labor law in Las Vegas said that is one of the critical areas where businesses much strike a balance, ensuring their employees are legally able to work without treating any applicant differently from another.

“One primary frustration of business owners, and particularly small-business owners without a dedicated HR staff, is that they feel stuck between a rock and a hard place with two seemingly competing sets of rules and regulations,” said Brian Bradford, a senior associate at Anderson, McPharlin and Conners. “On one hand you have the affirmative duty of employers to collect verification for a person’s identity or they face fines, but on the other side they face a lawsuit if there is a perception that someone is being targeted because of their race. Even if you are compliant, all it takes is an allegation and then you are locked into a lawsuit. Then you’ve lost because you have to pay money and take time to defend the lawsuit.”

For that reason, Bradford said the IMAGE program was a “step in the right direction for ICE,” as it should build communication between the government and businesses and help employers get clarification on the laws and regulations.

“It’s always a good idea when a government agency provides community outreach and helps to educate businesses small and large as to what they should be doing,” said Scott Abbott, managing partner at Kamer Zucker Abbott.

Abbott added that he has not fielded many calls about I-9 audits from clients, but he has received many questions on E-Verify. Most of his clients, he said, have found E-Verify helpful and easy to use.

Mike Fox, CEO of Southern California-based Fox Transportation, which delivers medical supplies and prescription medications to Nevada and nine other states, said he joined the IMAGE program because, in part, he saw it as his responsibility.

“It creates a level playing field,” Fox said. “In business, you want to make sure you are doing things the right way, and this is one way of making sure everyone is on a level playing field. Most businesses are not (eager) to have a federal or state agency have more access to their operations, but it’s the right thing to do. If you are doing it the right way, it shouldn’t be an issue. ... The bottom line is I feel like every business has an obligation to do this.”

Fox said he employs about 700 people, and the IMAGE program has not been overly burdensome on his human resources staff. The company was using E-Verify before joining IMAGE.

“It gave us the opportunity to self-audit and see if we were doing things correctly,” Fox said. “We have some very large customers and from their standpoint, when they use a transportation service like ours, they want to make sure they are hiring a company that is playing by the rules, that meets all the state and federal regulations. This is of course one of the more important ones. It also gave us a local representative who we contact if we have questions or don’t understand certain documents. ... This way we knew we were doing things right without the specter of an audit or fines.”

Employers interested in participating in the Thursday seminar can find more information and register at ICE's website.