Hotel & Motel Management - October 1, 2007 - (Page 50)

50 News H&MM October 1, 2007 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition New no-match rule Continued from page 1 ministration when the SSA’s records don’t match earnings information employers supply the government on their employees. From 1979, when the program ﬁrst started, to 1993, employees received the letters. SSA has long acknowledged that employers shouldn’t automatically Hampe ﬁre employees BAKER & MCKENZIE listed on a nomatch letter; mismatches could occur because of any number of clerical errors. However, mismatches also could indicate document fraud— in other words, nondocumented workers supplying false social security numbers on W-2 wage forms. “The mere fact that employers got a no-match letter didn’t mean that employee was an alien,” said Carl Hampe, business immigration attorney with Baker & McKenzie. In the past, Hampe said, employers often ignored nomatch letters because the Internal Revenue Service didn’t pursue enforcement heavily. Employers might McBurney have incurred AH&LA small fines, and noncompliance might have been cited when larger employment or wage issues surfaced. However, today’s political climate is different. “U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has become much more aggressive in enforcement,” Hampe said. For more information For more information on no-match, including a list of answers to frequently asked questions, visit the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Web page at www.ice.gov and click on the “Safe Harbor for Employers” box in the upper left corner. The new rule outlines clearly what steps employers and employees need to take when a letter is received, in what time frame, and what consequences might occur should the problem remain unresolved. “It clariﬁes the immigration liability these letters might have on an employer,” Hampe explained. The new clariﬁcations clearly state that upon receiving a nomatch letter, the employer ﬁrst must check his or her own records to ensure the mismatch was not a result of a clerical error. If that step doesn’t resolve the problem, the employee must resolve the issue with SSA. He or she has 90 days from the receipt of the letter to clear up the problem. If none of these steps works, employers must complete new I-9 forms for the employees in question, and they can’t use identiﬁcation documents that list the questionable social security number. “It’s a shared responsibility now between employer and employee,” Hampe said. “If the employer does all this within the set time period, he or she has safe harbor from any constructive knowledge that the employee might be an alien.” Safe harbor is critical, Hampe said, because it protects employers from future liability, should the employee turn out to be in the U.S. illegally. Checklist for immigration compliance Be alert that Immigration & Customs Enforcement has an interest in hotels that employ large numbers of unskilled or lowskilled workers. Follow the I-9 rules and retain the required paper work in the proper fashion. Respond to any Social Security Administration no-match letters you receive. Review your housing and transportation policies for your employees. These are common bases of an ICE criminal investigation. If you use contract workers to supplement your work force, look closely at those relationships. Cooperate with any ICE I-9 Audit. Know that the use of the Social Security Administration’s Web site veriﬁcation system has its limitations. Enroll in the Department of Homeland Security’s electronic employee veriﬁcation system, known as Basic Pilot or E-Verify. Consider joining ICE’s “IMAGE” program. Know that the time period shortly after an acquisition closes is a critical opportunity to take certain immigration compliance actions regarding the acquired company’s employees. Source: Carl Hampe, business immigration attorney, Baker & McKenzie Burden on employers Shawn McBurney, senior v.p. for governmental affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Assn., said it’s hard to predict at press time how much this rule will affect the lodging industry. “Our employers follow the I-9 process,” he said. “Our people are conﬁdent they hire only documented workers, but like every employer in the country, you just don’t know until you know.” “If a document appears relevant, [the employer] must accept it and can’t double-check it,” he said. “That sets the stage for no-match.” While ICE is not targeting any types of employers over others, Hampe said this rule is much tougher on smaller businesses. “There’s quite a brouhaha in the employer community right now,” he said. “The rule itself isn’t a bad thing because it’s clarifying liability that’s always been there. But the desire [on behalf of the government] to stir things up does ring of agency behavior that is not necessary, particularly for smalland medium-sized companies.” Hampe referred to an afﬁdavit ﬁled by the SSA on Sept. 5 that indicated the agency plans to “spread the mailing of the 141,000 no-match letters, affecting 8 million employees, over a two-month period (currently planned for September 2007 to early November 2007).” I I I I I I I I What happens now? On Aug. 31, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order against the Dept. of Homeland Security and the SSA, restraining them from implementing the rule as planned on Sept. 14. The temporary restraining order is in effect until Oct. 1. sricca@questex.com CIRCLE NO. 137 CIRCLE NO. 135 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition http://www.ice.gov http://sterifab.com http://www.therefinishingtouch.com http://www.therefinishingtouch.com http://sterifab.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - October 1, 2007

Hotel & Motel Management - October 1, 2007 Contents Independents Rely on Guest Feedback Models Showcase Aloft, Element Brands Trainers Emphasize Communication, Cooperation Perspective At Your Risk Satisfaction Trends Sales Clinic Energy Star Update HotelWorld Update Trends & Stats Dressing Walls in 'Green' Music Programming Provides a Sound Solution Remote Check-In/Out for Leisure Travelers Q&A: Western U.S. Pipeline Softgoods - Beds and Bedding Transactions A Cause Célèbre Awards People on the Move Events Cleaning and Maintenance Solutions Marketplace Ad/Editorial Index Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - October 1, 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.