When a leading healthcare organization found that the costs and time that they were spending on employee background checks were not leading to the desired results, its management realized that outsourcing these functions could be a cost-effective and efficient solution. The organization had come to the conclusion that their own compliance efforts were not sufficient, and given the possibility for fines and penalties, it was clearly time to put a more effective solution into place. In addition, far too much effort was being spent on routine human resources tasks, such as unemployment insurance claims, which distracted the human resources team from carrying out the healthcare organization's core mission.

Therefore, they chose to outsource employee verification procedures, including background screening as well as immigration status eligibility checks, to Pre-employ.com. We were able to save them a total of $575,000 over five years using the following solutions:

Background and Drug Screening - Savings: $2 per employee
Our background checks and drug screening ensured compliance with State and Federal regulations and saved the organization 8% compared to their prior in-house procedures.

Free Access to i-9/E-verify Service - Savings: $3 per employee
E-verify represents the most secure and accurate method of verifying an employee's immigration status as per Federal law, and besides the cost savings, use of our E-verify service guaranteed that our client would not be subject to any fines or penalties for failure to comply with ICE regulations.

Income and Employment Verifications/Unemployment Insurance Claims - Savings: $2.65 per employee
In addition to the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing these functions, the healthcare organization was able to better utilize its own Human Resources department to carry out its primary mission of providing the highest quality health care.

By using our outsourced services and automated solutions, this healthcare organization was able to achieve cost savings that are very beneficial considering the cost constraints under which many healthcare enterprises operate at this time. Most importantly, its management could be reassured that all of its processes were being carried out by compliance professionals who therefore eliminated any possible legal liabilities which the organization could have faced for failure to comply to State or Federal regulations.

Healthcare organizations need to keep human resources administrative costs as low as possible, while making sure that they do not face costly fines and penalties for failure to comply with State or Federal employment regulations. Therefore, leaders in the healthcare industry are increasingly turning to outsourced background screening contractors such as Pre-employ.com in order to improve efficiency and reduce or eliminate compliance liability. With regulations growing more complex, it is advantageous to turn to Pre-employ.com to make sure that they are properly followed, especially as outsourcing background screening is also cost-effective.

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

The FTC has once again postponed enforcement of the Red Flag Rules--this time to December 31, 2010.  This is likely due to some of the litigation by the AMA as well as the ABA.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions regarding these rules or implementation of such policies.

You can view our free webinar on this topic here: http://www.pre-employ.com/Webinars/Compliance-Webinars.aspx#FACTA

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

If you feel a chill in the air, you should. It’s December, winter is here, and blizzards rage across the country. However, another factor may be contributing to the recent chilly weather – an ICE storm of workplace audits by the government in an effort to maintain a legal workforce and ensure I-9 compliance.

It began in the spring, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a “New Worksite Enforcement Strategy” that addressed the employers who knowingly hired illegal workers and not just the illegal workers themselves. In order to target the root cause of illegal immigration, the updated strategy was distributed to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – more popularly known as ICE – changing the focus of the worksite enforcement program to the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.

A big part of that new program was an increase in workplace audits to ensure “I-9 compliance,” a term referring to the Employment Eligibility Verification form – known as the “I-9” – that employers must, by law, complete to verify that their workers are legally eligible to work in the country. In June, ICE launched a new I-9 audit initiative by issuing Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to 652 businesses nationwide to alert business owners that ICE would be inspecting their hiring records to determine whether or not they were in I-9 compliance.

More recently, ICE announced 1,000 new workplace audits to determine I-9 compliance with employment eligibility verification laws. Since the government is obviously serious about I-9 compliance, it is time that employers took their own I-9 compliance issues more seriously too, or else risk a workplace audit that could lead to fines, penalties, and even jail time. A designated third party agent can help employers maintain I-9 compliance through the use of E-Verify, the government’s electronic employment eligibility verification service.

A designated E-Verify service agent, I-9Compliance.com — a web-based I-9 solution from nationally recognized pre-employment screening provider Pre-Employ.com — is pre-integrated with the DHS’ E-Verify electronic employment eligibility verification system and helps employers ensure compliance, eliminate errors, and avoid government audits. For more information, view a complimentary on demand webinar “E-Verify & Federal Contractors: Know The Facts,” visit www.i-9Compliance.com, email info@i-9compliance.com, or call 800-300-1821.

Follow Pre-Employ.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PreEmploy.

pr@i-9compliance.com

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!

In an effort to hold employers accountable for their hiring practices through increased workplace audits, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has announced that it will issue Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to 1,000 employers across America to alert business owners that ICE will audit their hiring records to determine compliance with employment eligibility verification laws.

According to a news release from ICE, the workplace audits of the 1,000 businesses served with NOIs will involve a comprehensive review of the Employee Eligibility Verification Forms – known as I-9 Forms – that employers are required to complete and retain for each individual hired in the United States, and which also require employers to review and record each individual's identity and work eligibility documents and determine whether the documents reasonably appear to be genuine and related to that individual.

In April, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued updated worksite enforcement guidance emphasizing ICE's major priorities would focus on employers who cultivated illegal workplaces by breaking laws and knowingly hiring illegal workers. Since implementing the new ICE worksite enforcement strategy – which include increased form I-9 audits – statistics from the news release reveal:

• 45 businesses and 47 individuals debarred;
• 142 Notices of Intent to Fine (NIF) totaling $15,865,181;
• 45 Final Orders totaling $798,179;
• 1,897 cases initiated, and;
• 1,069 Form I-9 Inspections.

In July, ICE issued 654 NOIs to businesses nationwide – part of its effort to audit businesses suspected of using illegal labor – resulting in the following statistics:

• More than 85,000 Form I-9s were reviewed and more than 14,000 suspect documents (approximately 16 percent) were identified.
• 61 NIFs have been issued, resulting in $2,310,255 in fines, and 267 cases are currently being considered for NIFs.
• 326 cases were closed after businesses were found to be in compliance with employment laws or after businesses were served with a Warning Notice in expectation of future compliance.

With ICE “cracking down” on the hiring practices of U.S. employers, businesses in this country are strongly advised to remain in compliance with the nation’s employment eligibility verification laws. One way to ensure compliance is through the use of the E-Verify program, an online electronic employment eligibility verification system that matches information given by workers on 1-9 forms to DHS and Social Security Administration (SSA) databases.

In addition, the DHS recently announced a new "I E-Verify" campaign to recognize the 170,000 businesses nationwide that seek to maintain legal workforces by using E-Verify, a campaign that will also let consumers know which businesses are working hard to follow the law and are committed to protecting employment opportunities.

Now more than ever, employers must maintain full compliance or risk government audits. A designated E-Verify service agent, I-9Compliance.com – a turnkey I-9/E-Verify solution offered by nationally recognized employment screening provider Pre-Employ.com – is pre-integrated with the E-Verify system and provides employers with an electronic employment verification solution to help them manage complex compliance issues in a web-based, paperless environment. And it is a good cure for a case of the chills caused by ICE.

Does your company E-Verify? If not, find out more about Pre-Employ.com’s I-9Compliance.com I-9/E-Verify solution by visiting www.i-9compliance.com, emailing info@i-9compliance.com, or calling 1-800-300-1821. Follow Pre-Employ.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/PreEmploy.

View Complimentary Webinar On Demand: “E-Verify & Federal Contractors: Know The Facts” 

pr@pre-employ.com 

*We welcome relevant comments and questions from consumers, experts, and human resources professionals. Please do not submit comments with advertisements as they will not be posted publicly. Thanks for visiting our blog!