The Compliance Divas Podcast
Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
The Compliance Divas Podcast
#132 Implementing the New I-9 Form for Employees
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Compliance takes many forms. In this episode, the Divas discuss compliance with the requirement to complete an I-9 form on all new hires. Recently, this federal form was updated, so tune in to learn what you should be doing in your practice.
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services I-9 Update Information: https://bit.ly/46JNXNs
- New I-9 form download: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9
- U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security E-Verify https://www.e-verify.gov/
Welcome. I'm Leslie Cannum. I'm Mary Gavoni.
SPEAKER_02I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Wan, and together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. This is Linda Harvey and I will be your host for this session. We all recognize compliance takes many forms, literally and figuratively, because most regulatory compliance includes different types of record keeping and forms, whether it's OSHA, HIPAA, HR, or any state-specific requirement that you are required to follow. In this episode, the Divas will discuss some recent and important changes to one of the required HR forms, and that's the Form I-9. So if you are job hunting, even if you're only temping, or you're in the process of hiring for your practice or organization, you'll want to lean into this podcast. As the Compliance Divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to the Compliance Divas podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecomplicedivas.com. All the resources that we mentioned today can be found on our website as well as in the show notes. And we always invite you to submit questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. So Leslie, can I ask you to kick us off with this? What's going on with this important update for this important legal form that every employer has to use? And are there any deadlines or anything our listeners should be aware of?
SPEAKER_01Well, Linda, as of August 1st, 2023, an updated form I-9 went into effect. So while you can still use the form I-9 dated October 19th, 2019, you can use that through the end of this month, which is October. That goes to October 31st, 2023. And the way that you find the date of your I-9 is to look at the lower left-hand corner of the form. So beginning August 1st, employers may remotely examine employees' I-9 documents, provided they are enrolled in eVerify.
SPEAKER_03Thank you, Leslie. So those are some important dates that our listeners will need to key in on, regardless of whether they're looking for a job or whether they're hiring. This is an important form that has to be used. Olivia, could you enlighten us about some of the specific changes on the form, please? I know as an employer myself, I always found that form cumbersome. And there were so many different lines and details, and sometimes I feel like I would be filling the form out wrong. Sure, Linda.
SPEAKER_02When you look at the new form, it is a little bit easier to read. And what they've done is they've taken sections one and two and reduced it to where it's just one-page layout. So it doesn't look as complicated and complex as it used to, because they merged uh several fields as possible to keep it simple. And then they move section one for the prepare translator certification area to actually a separate document, which is now supplement A, if it's applicable, and they move section three, the re-verification and rehire, to a supplement B, if applicable, and then they remove the word um alien authorized to work in section one, and they replace that with non-citizen authorized to work. And also one of the big changes, Linda, that they've made is that you can actually use a tablet or a mobile device to download the form because not everybody has access, maybe, to uh a computer or laptop, and that you could use the free Adobe Reader app with those mobile devices. And they've also removed some of the features to make sure that the form downloads correctly and easily, so it's just makes it easier to work with, I think, and then improve the guidance on the list of acceptable documents. And then as far as the instructions pages, you know, that used to be a daunting 15 pages long, it's down to eight pages. So I think probably the goal was met to make it a little bit more simple and easier to navigate.
SPEAKER_03Olivia, thank you. I think it sounds like it's going to be much more user-friendly. I mean, who wouldn't be intimidated by 15 pages of instructions to make sure you do this federal form and complete it properly? So eight pages seems like a breeze. And I was especially glad to hear about the re-verification piece because I think that's overlooked a lot. When dental practices rehire an individual who's formerly worked with them, there are some legal requirements they have to go back and do. And one of them is to re-verify the information on their Form I9. So now it's a, I think you said it was supplement B. So this is important for office managers, practice administrators, doctors, and even team members who are reapplying for with the former practice to be aware of this is a still a requirement to verify. And I love the fact that you mentioned that it can be available on different devices, so it's easier to complete and fill out. And I understand that it can even an employer can check the documents remotely too. So they're just making it so much easier all the way around because when you think about, say, a multi-site location or a DSO that's in multi-states, sometimes the HR department's in a completely different state from where the individual's being hired, and it's good. Mary, one of the things they talked about with the changes to this form is uh the checkbox for e-Verify employers to use. Can you help everybody understand what that means and is it mandatory or just is it something that's good to do use?
SPEAKER_00What are your thoughts? Um, e-Verify is the government's system to compare the information that an employee or a prospective employee gives you on their form with the database through the Social Security Administration and Citizenship and Immigration Um Service database to make sure that this person has legitimate documents. They're not um that they truly are eligible to work in the U.S. It's a secure access, it works with the form I-9, and it will, they say, instantly verify information that an employee has given you on the I-9 form so that you know that it's accurate. Maybe the employee has made an error on their form, um, but also will flag that employee if they really truly don't have documents that allow them to work in the US. Um, and Linda, you asked the question about is it mandatory or not? I didn't find any verification that it is mandatory, but it does make it so convenient not only for an employer to enroll and be able to verify information about employees, but employees can also go and check their own information and check their own eligibility for work. So it's really a two-part system. It is secure and it makes it very, very easy and convenient for employers.
SPEAKER_03Mary, I think that's so isn't interesting because the instant verification is very important. We're used to getting information quite quickly these days. And so that's one big update. And, you know, there's been a few times, and I'm sure all of the divas have experienced this somewhere throughout our careers, where we have known of someone who's been an imposter in a dental practice. And I can remember probably going back, tell my age here course a little over 20 years ago, maybe it was even 25 years ago here in Florida, where there was, you know, a hygienist or assistant, different folks posing as somebody who they marked because they stole a license from somebody's office or wallet, and then they proceeded to try to get a job at that dental practice. Of course, it didn't last very long, right? But nevertheless, this could have been weeded out right away with instant verification. Mary, did you have a thought on that?
SPEAKER_00Well, I did. Um, I have two thoughts. One is that um as I used to own an employment service, we had a number of uh folks that would try to pass themselves off as someone else and that they weren't really eligible either for employment or they weren't eligible for employment in the category for which they were applying. So didn't have a dental hygiene license, but were applying for a job as a hygienist. So that's always um interesting. But one thing I forgot to mention about e-Verify is that if you go to the e-Verify website, there are training webinars that you can that are free that you an employer or employees can watch and understand more about it. But you also, if you subscribe and you're enrolled in e-Verify, you'll automatically get updates when things change. And that's very important because it is up to employers to stay up to date, whether there's a new form or some new requirements.
SPEAKER_03That is key, Mary, because we know that offices are doing more with fewer employees, and we know how crazy busy everybody is with the staffing issues that continue to play out. So when you have these reminders, such as this through eVerify, it just helps to keep you compliant because it's, you know, you want to be prepared in case you were ever chosen for an unannounced inspection or audit and have the documents in the right place. Divas, what are your thoughts? Because I believe I've heard many times over the years from our friends at Ben Derrickson and Associates, their recommendation is to keep all your form I9s in a separate folder versus an individual personnel record. So have you all heard the same thing, Mary?
SPEAKER_00Yes, actually, that is a federal government requirement that they all be all employees, I-9 forms be kept in a single folder with um obviously limited access because there is personal information on there. But if for some reason, um in a state where there might be a literally a raid on an employment setting to find out whether there are illegal employees or not, the um folks from um citizenship and immigration don't want to have to be waiting for somebody to go through everybody's folder and pull out on the forms. They just want you to grab one folder with all the forms and then they start checking.
SPEAKER_03Audit ready. Always be audit ready, even though you're doing your best to hire individuals who are authorized to work and doing your best to collect the information. Um, you just always want to be um ready for the unexpected. Diva, said anybody have any thoughts or comments or experiences with this? Leslie?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think especially in California, where we are experiencing, like many other states, workforce shortage, we're finding that the dental assistants are interviewing for jobs and doctors are so anxious to hire that they may be skipping this verification process to make sure that they are hiring someone that they can legally employ. So I would just caution people to uh, you know, be sure and vet the person that you're gonna hire along with every other kind of license you might verify with other employees, whether they have an x-ray license or if they are a registered dental assistant or if they're actually an active hygienist and have an active license, that when you look at your unlicensed personnel that you're hiring, they you check to make sure that you can hire them.
SPEAKER_03And Leslie, that's so important because at the very beginning of the podcast, when I mentioned whether you're seeking employment yourself or whether you're hiring, if you're a practice administrator, for example, and for those individuals seeking employment, it's important, particularly for a hygienist and dentist, particularly hygienist, I'll just stick in the stick in that lane, if you will, that you have to have an I-9 filled out somewhere. You have to have taxes taken out. So if it's not by the person who practice that's going to be employing you, say on a temporary basis, it needs to be the temp agency. So at the very beginning, when I said of the podcast, when I opened it, I mentioned whether you're seeking employment, even if you're just temping, you need to be aware of this form because this needs to be legally completed. Because we know many offices over the years where they've been audited by the Department of Labor and have owed taxes for these employees that they have treated as 1099s and they should have been bona fide employees. I think this was an important update. So I'm glad that we were able to circle our wagons on this form to keep our listeners up to date on the deadlines and some of these changes that are making this form easier to be used. And we will have the link to download these forms and the updates and our show notes and on the website. Because as we know, compliance takes many forms. So please take time to be compliant with these important HR requirements. As the Compliance Divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. Please subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedivas.com. The resources, as I just mentioned, will be listed on the show notes as well as on our website. And if you have any questions, we invite you to submit them to support at the compliancedevas.com. Thank you for tuning in, and we look forward to seeing you next time.