What A Subway Restaurant’s Mitigated I-9 Fines Means For Your Business
September 2nd, 2011 § 1 Comment
Why should you care about a Subway restaurant in North Carolina and it’s trouble with I-9 forms? Well, from 2009 to the end of 2010, that Subway restaurant was the subject of an ICE investigation and faced fines of more than $110,000 for I-9 form violations.
In its filings, ICE alleged in Count I that the restaurant hired 11 named individuals from 2006 through Feb. 2009 and failed to ensure that those individuals properly completed section 1 of form I-9 and/or failed itself to properly complete section 2 or section 3 of the form. Count II alleged that the restaurant hired 85 named individuals between 2006 and Feb. 2009 for whom it failed to prepare or present I-9 forms at all.
Penalties were sought in the amount of $1,028.50 for each violation, or $31,883.50 for Count I and $87,422.50 for Count II for a total of $119,306.00.
In Dec. 2010, the Department of Justice, Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO) issued a precedent decision that reduced the fine levied on the Subway restaurant for form I-9-related violations.
The initial fine was near the maximum amount permitted within the regulations that an employer can be fined. Although the administrative law judge acknowledged that the violations were serious, she reduced the fine after considering the company’s ability to pay and the general state of the economy (among the other five mitigating factors permitted by the statute).
The fine was reduced for Count I to $6,900 and for Count II to $21,250.00 for a total of $28,150, which is still substantial, but is not so “onerous that employees have to lose their jobs or employers are forced out of business.”
This decision is noteworthy due to the additional factors (the company’s ability to pay and the economy) that the judge used to mitigate the fine. This decision gives employers greater negotiating power when faced with fines from ICE for I-9-related violations.
This is another example of employers being held accountable for their workforce. It is noteworthy that in this case none of the bad I-9s were from unauthorized aliens. These are just the type of I-9 compliance issues GoffWilson can help your company with. Call (603.228.1277) or email us before you have any trouble with ICE.
[...] million in financial sanctions on those employers. In FY2011, ICE arrested 221 employers accused of immigration and employment related violations, which is an agency [...]