This month’s issue is a bit wordy and may take you a few minutes to read, but it includes major changes to the I-9 form that take effect today, a warning by USPS about mailing checks, and a recent lawsuit that Home Depot settled for $72.5 million. While it may cost you a few minutes of time, it could save you money in fines, fraud, and unnecessary lawsuits.
Published July 26, 2023 by Romeo Chicco
On August 1, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published the latest version of Form I-9. The new version can be downloaded here. Employers should begin to use this new form immediately, and starting November 1, 2023, ONLY this new version will be allowed. If your employees use PayMaster HCM to complete the Form I-9, we will update to the new version in the coming weeks.
There are many big changes with this version. Wording has been changed from ‘alien’ to ‘noncitizen,’ which I always thought was weird in the first place, and the form was redesigned to be more user-friendly on a smaller device, such as a tablet or mobile phone. It has been reduced to a single page with only Sections 1 and 2, making it more efficient over the previous two-page version. This was accomplished by moving the preparer/translator section to a separate standalone page, which only needs to be provided when necessary, and the same goes for Section 3, which is used for rehires and reverification. The instructions also went through an overhaul, reducing it in half from 15 pages down to just eight. Continue Reading on PayMaster’s Blog
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Written by Romeo Chicco
It’s actually any check to anyone, but I only think about payroll. The U.S. Postal Service issued a warning recently: “Do not send checks through the mail.”
The Postal Service reports that complaints of mail theft have doubled in recent years and banks have reported that check fraud has also doubled from 2021 to 2022. “Despite the declining use of checks in the United States, criminals have been increasingly targeting the US Mail since the COVID-19 pandemic to commit check fraud,” the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network wrote in an alert.
Both of these statements should provide enough warning that mailing checks can lead to not only your employees not getting paid timely, but a potential loss. The best way to combat this from a payroll perspective is to encourage your employees to go on direct deposit. It is fast, safe, secure, and will save your business money. For those employees who are unbanked, the next best option are reloadable paycards. Many states will even allow you to mandate direct deposit if you want to go completely checkless. Check with your state laws. If you are a PayMaster client, reach out to your payroll specialist for information about direct deposit or paycards.
If you do find yourself needing to mail checks, USPS has tips for protecting yourself against mail theft:
- Don’t let incoming or outgoing mail sit in your mailbox. You can significantly reduce the chance of being victimized by simply removing your mail from your mailbox every day.
- The Safest way to deposit outgoing mail is inside your local post office or by handing it to a letter carrier directly.
- Sign up for Informed Delivery and get daily digest emails that preview your mail and packages scheduled to arrive soon.
- Keep an eye out for your letter carrier. If you see something that looks suspicious, or you see someone following your carrier, call 911.
- Customers are encouraged to report stolen mail as soon as possible by submitting an online complaint to the Postal Inspection Service at www.uspis.gov/report or calling 877-876-2455
Written by Romeo Chicco
I have been writing articles every month for the past eight years. While some of them were timely at the time of publishing, and do not have any current value, remember all of those PPP articles, many continue to be relevant. For example, this article about when an employee should be considered ‘on the clock’ and needed to be paid “Waiting to be Engaged, or Engaged to Wait?” If only the executives at Home Depot read my article, they could have saved themselves from a $72.5 million settlement. Home Depot to pay $72.5 million to settle California wage class action
If your employee is Engaged to Wait then that time is considered hours worked. Conversely, Waiting to be Engaged are off-the-clock hours, thus not hours worked or compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Engaged to Wait is time spent primarily for the benefit of the employer, and how much restraint is placed on an employee who is waiting. Let’s look at a few examples to get a better picture.
- A receptionist who reads a book while waiting for the next call.
- A truck driver who waits for his truck to be loaded at a job site.
- A technician who is at a clients business waiting for them to arrive.
- An “on-call” hospital ER employee who is able to relax and do as they please at the hospital, but not allowed to leave, in the event of an emergency.
- An employee who is waiting to be released from their shift.
- An employee who is collecting and putting on their apron.
In these cases, waiting is a critical part of the job and the employee cannot use the waiting time effectively for their own purpose. Even though the employee may be able to leave the work site, they need to be ready when the work arrives. Certainly the employer has the right to have the employee perform others duties while they are waiting, but the employee is considered working in either case.
Waiting to be Engaged is time where the employee is completely relieved from duty, and they know the time they are required to leave the job and to return to work. Take the same truck driver in the above example. He arrives at 10am at a warehouse and is informed that it will take 6 hours to unload the truck. He has no other responsibilities other than driving, and is asked to return at 4pm. He is Waiting to be Engaged and is off-duty. Even though he does not necessarily have transportation to drive anywhere, he is completely and specifically relieved from all duty and free to use the time for his own purposes.
Now consider this. If that same truck driver returns at 4pm, and the truck is not completely unloaded yet, and he waits an additional hour, then he is now Engaged to Wait and must be compensated for that time.
As you can see the deciding factor for each situation depends upon the individual circumstances as well as the communication to the employee. If you have any questions regarding your specific situation, consider utilizing our HR Support Center. Our certified HR professionals will provide you with answers to your complex questions.
