Employers who accepted certain documents for I-9 immigration forms from employees during the pandemic have till July 31st to update the forms to comply with the law. The temporary policy that was in-place that permitted employees to provide expired List B (proof of identification) documents to complete I-9 forms due to challenges presented during the pandemic is now being revoked by the Department of Homeland Security. Here’s what employers should know about this deadline, as explained by the NPZ Law Group.
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What Does This Deadline Signify?
During the pandemic, employers experienced several challenges in acquiring the appropriate documents from employees in connection with the Employment Verification process. Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security permitted employers to accept expired List B (proof of identification) documents to complete I-9 forms. The lockdowns due to the pandemic made it near impossible for employees to renew their documents. Therefore, this temporary policy was introduced to combat those challenges.

However, now that those challenges are no longer present, the Department has removed the policy. From May 1st, 2022, employers must only accept valid List B documents from their employees who are working with them in connection with the I-9 immigration form. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), employers will also have to ask all of their employees who provided expired List B documents to provide updated, valid ones before July 31st.

Employers will, therefore, need to secure the following documents for employees with I-9 immigration forms who were hired between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022.

- A renewed List B document (unexpired)
- A different List B document or a List A document.
Important Points Employers Should Keep in Mind.
Employers are not required to update the proof of identification documents for any employees or the aforementioned employees who are not under the company’s employment.

Employers will need to enter specific information about the List B document when updating it for the affected employees. The details are listed below.

- The title of the document
- The document’s issuing authority
- The document number
- The expiration date provided in Section 2 under the heading of “Additional Information”

The employer’s representative must mark the date that the change was made, and the relevant initials must be provided.

Employers do not need to make any updates in List B documentation details if the document’s issuing authority auto-extended it. This is because the document will be unexpired in that case. For example, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic gave many States the freedom to automatically extend the expiration dates of drivers’ licenses. Thus, such documents do not need to be updated.

Last Few Words.
If you are an employer, it is imperative that you review all provided documentation of your employees. Failure to comply with the new policies could result in significant monetary penalties.

If you have any questions about how these laws in the United States may impact you or your family or if you want to access additional information about the United States or Canadian immigration and nationality laws, please feel free to get in-touch with the immigration and nationality lawyers at NPZ Law Group. You can send us an email at [email protected] or you can call us at 201-670-0006 extension 104. In addition, we invite you to find more information on our website at http://www.Visaserve.com
 

By: Rich Meene, Principal, Government Contracting & Chase Clark, Manager, Government Contracting, CohnReznick
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​With the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law, authorizing a total of nearly $550 billion in new federal funding for infrastructure projects in addition to the renewal of existing programs that were set to expire as early as September, 2022, there is a ton of opportunity for manufacturing, construction, and clean energy companies to obtain government awards (see Overview of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act below).

This means contracts and funding will be awarded to companies and projects with a major focus in the areas of construction and clean energy.

For those who are interested in jumping directly into the deep end and leveraging their commercial qualifications to capture opportunities in the public sector, we urge you to consider five key factors that will help you to evaluate the opportunities in light of the requirements, risks, and benefits they offer.

1. Barriers to entry: Actually winning the federal award probably sounds like the biggest barrier to entry. In actuality, the real barrier to entry is ensuring your company has the proper people, processes, and technologies in place for your company to successfully perform on government awards. If you don’t have the right people with the requisite knowledge about the Federal Acquisition Regulation or Uniform Guidance, you could inadvertently trigger a noncompliance, such as charging unallowable costs to the government that could result in fines and penalties. Ensuring you have the proper processes and technology in place is discussed in greater detail in the next key factor.

2. System requirements: One of the most challenging areas of compliance lies in requirements for capability of business systems such as accounting, estimating, and purchasing systems. The government expects systems to be capable of complying with applicable regulations that often have compliance and reporting requirements that are not common in the commercial marketplace. Establishing systems adequate enough for government contracts or grants can require company investment but not necessarily in the way many companies think.  For example, it’s a common misconception that in order to do government work, you have to implement purpose-built applications. 

While implementing technology-based solutions can help facilitate compliance, ultimately the type, complexity, and volume of government awards should heavily influence how organizations approach the investments they make in technology related to the systems that need to be developed and/or enhanced. 

3. Strategy to capture opportunities: Any effort to enter the federal public sector without a strategy to identify and pursue opportunities will likely fail quickly. A benefit of working with the U.S. government is that all the information about opportunities, administration priorities, and near and intermediate term spending plans is public information. Use them to identify where you have offerings that are consistent with the needs of the government. 

The System for Award Management (“SAM.gov”) will be your primary resource for information about government opportunities in the form of Requests for Proposals (“RFPs”) or Requests for Quotations (“RFQs”). As an example, for a manufacturing company, one approach is to understand the government’s required specifications for an item your company manufactures and then assess if your product meets these specifications. If it does not, consider what will be needed to meet the government’s requirements and determine if you are willing to make the investment. Some examples of changes that may be needed might be a requirement to source some of the inputs from the American or Trade Agreement Act authorized sources or to maximize the utilization of small business subcontractors in delivering the contract. The costs of some of these changes may be able to be covered by the contract itself. When the government is ready to buy the product, you may be able to take advantage of your own commercial sales history to leverage a market price approach, rather than a cost-based approach, for the offering.

4. Ways to obtain a competitive advantage: Many federal contracting opportunities involve set-asides for veteran-owned, women-owned, and other types of businesses, including small business set-asides. Consider enabling your company to participate in these set-asides either directly with the government as an SBA certified small business or as a large business subcontracting to a small business prime. It is important to verify your SBA status and many businesses that do not consider themselves to be small businesses may actually qualify. In order to confirm if you qualify, you will need to identify your North American Industrial Classification System code (“NAICS code”) by going to the Small Business Administration’s website and looking for the small business criteria for your particular NAICS code. There are both headcount and revenue measures that indicate how your company measures up that will allow you to determine if you qualify as a small business. If you are under the limit within the stated time parameters (revenue look back can be around three years, and headcount look back can now be two years), be sure to self-certify as a small business in the SAM.gov website. 

Consider other opportunities to participate in set-asides, including expanding ownership to those who will assist the firm in participating in minority, women-owned, veteran-owned, or other set-asides. It is important to make sure that your small business status is correctly represented because failure to adequately disclose your status can result in noncompliance up to, and including, loss of the contract or enforcement actions under the False Claims Act. This may sound scary, however, the SBA size requirements are available to guide you.

5. Performance of the contract: Once you have won government work, it is important to successfully perform your contract. The quality of your performance will impact your ability to win future work. The government will keep formal note of whether or not you met delivery or timing requirements. Make sure to communicate frequently with your U.S. government contracting officer and their representatives so that you can get regular feedback, fix issues before they become problems, and ultimately achieve high ratings for the products and/or services you have delivered.
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While these five key factors will help you evaluate the requirements, risks, and benefits as well as help start you off on the right foot, balancing the cost of compliance with the many rules that come with federal contracts and grants can be a challenge. Having the right specialists on call is important to help ensure success. Having helped a wide array of clients navigate the federal marketplace, CohnReznick’s professionals have the necessary experience to help assist your company.

Overview of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

• $110 billion for roads, bridges, and other major projects
• $73 billion to update the nation’s electricity grid
• $66 billion for passenger and freight rail
• $65 billion for broadband internet
• $55 billion for water infrastructure
  • $15 billion for removing lead pipes
• $50 billion for climate resiliency projects
• $39 billion for public transit
• $25 billion for airports
• $21 billion for environment remediation projects
• $17 billion for ports and waterways
• $11 billion for transportation safety projects
• $7.5 billion for low emissions buses and ferries
• $7.5 billion to construct EV charging stations

By: Bill Passarotti, Senior Vice President, HUB International Northeast

Employee retention is a serious issue that employers across all industries are facing today and as businesses continue on the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, a labor shortage threatens the progress. Worker shortages have been prevalent during the pandemic; with many employees stating they won’t return to their former jobs, due to low pay, a lack of benefits and stressful work, according to one survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* However, employee benefits, health insurance and retirement benefits in particular, are a useful strategy for businesses when it comes to attracting and retaining employees.

Consider the following when designing your plan:

• Understand employees, and what they want and need from benefits. Persona analyses from HUB can provide insight into employees, helping customize benefits that will energize recruitment and retention.

 

• Offer value. Because limited medical plans are voluntary, employees won’t bite if there’s no value in the plan. A limited medical plan needs to offer access, cover preventative services like mental health and address gaps in care.
  
  
• Emphasize employee communications. A third-party vendor can handle administrative tasks like integrating plan management with payroll systems and managing COBRA, but not necessarily employee communications. Employers need to make sure their vendor offers strong communication and education capabilities, so employees will know the value in the limited medical plan and will actually sign up.

 

• Keep in mind that retirement plans are important to retention and financial wellness. Retirement benefits like the 401(k) are important drivers of recruitment and employee retention because they uniquely incentivize long-term employment – especially when offered with an employer match.
  
  When employees know that their company takes an interest in securing their financial futures, they’re more likely to stick around and put in their best work. A 401(k) retirement plan helps recruit and retain quality employees. It enriches the organization’s benefits offering and represents the employer’s interest in helping employees take control of their retirement. Tax-deferred growth for savings also makes 401(k) plans an efficient way for employers and employees alike to invest for retirement.

 
Benefits can help manage the labor gap and attract long-term staff. Work with your insurance advisor to offer a strategic and competitive package and consider retirement planning when it comes to long-term retention.

CIANJ member, Bill Passarotti, currently serves as Senior Vice President with leading global insurance brokerage, HUB International. Based out of Summit, NJ, Bill works with businesses in a wide variety of industries on custom-tailored, comprehensive risk & insurance solutions. He can be reached at 908-​666-6200 or [email protected].

*Business Insider, “A third of former hospitality workers won’t return to the industry during the labor shortage because they want higher pay, better benefits, and a new work environment,” July 8, 2021.