HR Alerts For October 2017
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New Form I-9 Must Be Used
As of Monday, September 18, employers were required to use the revised Form I-9 for all new employees. This new version of the form has the revision date of 7/17/17.
The new Form I-9 can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9
The revisions to the Form I-9 are minor and employers will not need to change their processes.
Revisions to the Form I-9 Instructions:
- The name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices has been changed to its new name, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section.
- The words “the end of” have been removed from the phrase “the first day of employment.”
Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:
- The Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) has been added to List C.
- All the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) have been combined into selection C#2 in List C.
- All List C documents except the Social Security card have been renumbered.
Employers can visit USCIS’s “I-9 Central” to get more details about the changes. https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central
EEO-1 Pay Data Reporting Suspended Indefinitely
The Office of Management and Budget has put an indefinite hold on the pay data collection portion of the EEO-1 form that was revised on September 29, 2016. The version in effect prior to September 2016, which collects data on race, ethnicity, and gender by occupational category, remains in effect.
The EEO-1 form only applies to private employers with 100 or more employees and public contractors with 50 or more employees. Affected employers should plan to submit the earlier-approved EEO-1 by the previously-set filing date of March 2018.
Overtime Rule Doubling Minimum Salary for White Collar Workers Officially Dead
On August 29th, Judge Mazzant in the Eastern District of Texas issued his ruling on the Department of Labor’s overtime rule changes. The rules, which were slated to go into effect on December 1, 2016, have been on hold since he issued an injunction last November. As anticipated, the Judge ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs, finding that the DOL had overstepped its authority by making the new minimum salary so high.
The DOL will not be appealing the decision, but labor or employees’ rights groups could theoretically take their place in the lawsuit. However, the DOL has said they would not enforce the 2016 rules, so any further action toward implementation will ultimately be ineffective.
