TAG

Employer audits

Government inspection of employer immigration and payroll files.

IMM-25 · 01

Surviving an I-9 Audit: Notices of Inspection, E-Verify, and Penalties

10 MIN · IMM

An inspection notice starts a three-business-day clock and ends the chance to fix anything quietly. This brief maps the violation categories, the cure period, and the rules that constrain every correction.

A Notice of Inspection from Immigration and Customs Enforcement normally gives an employer three business days to produce its I-9 forms and supporting records.
Substantive violations cannot be cured after the notice; technical or procedural violations get at least ten business days to correct once identified.
Employees choose which acceptable documents to present, and demanding specific or extra documents is an unfair documentary practice enforced by the Justice Department.

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IMM-26 · 02

H-1B Site Visits: FDNS Inspections and the Evidence They Test

8 MIN · IMM

A site visit compares the petition's claims to the facts on the ground: the worksite, the wage, the duties, and the supervision. This brief sets out what is checked and what an adverse report triggers.

USCIS site visits are conducted by the Fraud Detection and National Security directorate, usually unannounced and often after the petition is already approved.
The officer verifies that the employer exists, that the beneficiary works at the stated location, and that the wage and duties match the petition.
Third-party worksites draw heightened attention because the petitioning employer must still show a genuine offer and control over the work.

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IMM-27 · 03

PERM Audits and Supervised Recruitment: Responding to the Department of Labor

9 MIN · IMM

A PERM audit is a production demand with a hard deadline, not an invitation to explain. This brief covers what triggers an audit, what the response must contain, and what supervised recruitment does to a case.

Audit letters are issued at random and for identified triggers, and the response is due within 30 days of the letter, with one extension possible.
Failure to respond ends the case: the application is denied without review, and the Certifying Officer may impose supervised recruitment on future filings.
Supervised recruitment transfers control of advertising text, placement, and applicant handling to the Certifying Officer and adds substantial time.

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EMP-05 · 04

Payroll Records and Wage-Hour Audits: What Investigators Examine

8 MIN · EMP

Recordkeeping is the one wage-hour obligation that has no good-faith defense: either the record exists or it does not. This brief sets out what must be kept, for how long, and what an investigator does with it.

FLSA section 11(c) and 29 CFR Part 516 require specified payroll records to be kept three years, with wage-computation records kept two years.
A Wage and Hour investigation typically reviews records, interviews employees privately, and can seek back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages.
Missing or unreliable time records shift the practical burden: employees may prove hours by reasonable inference rather than by documentation.

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EMP-07 · 05

Worker Misclassification Audits and Voluntary Settlement Options

8 MIN · EMP

One worker can be an independent contractor for one agency and an employee for another, because each applies a different test. This brief maps the tests, the audit triggers, and the settlement routes that exist.

The IRS applies a common-law control test, the FLSA applies an economic reality analysis, and many states apply a stricter ABC test.
Audits usually begin from a single event: an unemployment claim, an injury, a worker's status-determination request, or an agency information-sharing referral.
The IRS Voluntary Classification Settlement Program and Section 530 relief are real routes, each with strict eligibility conditions that must be met first.

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