By:  Timothy Sutton, Communications Editor

HerbCo International Owner Ted Andrews, Vice President David Lykin and General Manager Debra Howard will appear in Court on May 1, 2012, charged with re-hiring nearly two dozen of the 86 workers fired after an I-9 audit by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency back in February of 2011. A HerbCo employee tipped off authorities about the scheme to pay these 20 illegal workers roughly $40,000 in cash, despite being fired for non-conforming I-9 forms and failing to pass E-verify background checks.

During an ICE Audit of 334 I-9 forms, it was found that 214 employees had presented fraudulent documents.  All the employees listed in the social security “no-match letter” who were still employed, 86 of them, were terminated.

Under federal law, an employer is required to verify the identity and work authorization of every employee hired. However, there are limitations on how an employer can legally seek additional verification of documents they suspect to be fraudulent.

The HerbCo executives are expected to receive a year of probation for guilty pleas to their criminal charges. Prosecutors are seeking an additional $1M in fines from HerbCo, sending an obvious message to employers that hire illegal workers.

The US Attorney’s office stated the following regarding the amount of the fine, “Within the worksite universe of either the United States or the State of Washington, the defendants’ conduct appears unremarkable only because of the sheer numbers of other culpable employers who have not been prosecuted for similar conduct. Of 20 million illegal aliens residing in the United States and 230,000 in the State of Washington, 86 were employed at Herbco on April 15, 2011.”

For more information about how to safeguard your business from a costly I-9 audit, contact our firm at info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com or call 562 612.3996.

We  link to more on this, and here also.