Good morning, welcome to my latest edition of Monday Morning Briefing, and HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!
It’s a pretty quiet week, heading into the summer, I think. So I want to go over a few reminders of things coming up.
DHS AND ICE GRANT EMPLOYERS MORE TIME TO RESUME FULL COMPLIANCE WITH PRE-COVID I-9 COMPLIANCE
Immigration forms? Yeah, I’m not sure we have ever stopped to talk about the fun little topic of I-9 forms before – mainly because they haven’t been as much of a priority since the Biden Administration has come on the scene, and the immigration focus turned more to border areas and less about targeting employers.
But during the peak of the pandemic, like so many things, federal agencies were a tad overstretched and decided it might be time to give employers a bit of leeway. It had always been a sticky point that there was never a real protocol established for how an employer was to deal with remote employees. Then COVID hit, and many employers had their entire workforces go remote. So the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the two agencies that handle I-9 enforcement, changed the rules to permit employers to collect, inspect and retain certain employee documents remotely – at least temporarily. The deadline was originally set to expire in October, 2022, and it has now been extended to July 31, 2023, with a grace period of 30 days – taking us officially to August 30, 2023. For now, at least.
Keep in mind that employers who have their employees back to work “on any regular, consistent or predictable basis” must still have their employment authorization documents inspected in person.
They keep kicking this can down the road, but it’s clear DHS and ICE need to find a permanent solution to permit employers to remotely collect, inspect and retain employment authorization documents for remote employees. Working remotely has become part of every day life for many industries, including mine.
In the meantime, do NOT put I-9 compliance in general on your back burner. Visits from ICE may be down, but visits from our friends at the Department of Labor (DOL) are UP! And the DOL is also empowered to review I-9s for compliance, along with their other fun tasks of looking into federal wage and hour compliance. So, a few basic tips about I-9 compliance:
- Do NOT keep the I-9 forms in your employee folders!! They should be pulled out and stored in separate file, where they can (and should be) regularly reviewed and purged after employees terminate. Also, it’s much easier for an auditor to see if an employee is missing an I-9 if they open the file and form isn’t there. If you keep them all in a book, there would actually have to be someone with a full employee list comparing all the forms with your list. The DOL may well not bother with that. In many cases, the auditor may just thumb through the first few forms in your book to see how they look. It’s not like ICE, where they take all the forms with them. It’s not their main focus when they visit.
- Most often, the BIGGEST problem with I-9 forms is NOT that someone is not legal to work – it’s MISSING INFORMATION. Usually, we are missing SIGNATURES, dates, stupid stuff. Just go through all your forms and make sure they are SIGNED, on YOUR END. That is often what is lacking. Sign them, check the correct boxes, date them.
- Should you attach supporting documents? I have heard immigration attorneys go both ways on this one. If you believe most of your employees’ documents look good on their face, and you always have these documents to support, I would attach them. But be consistent. Pick a lane and stick with it. But attaching these documents is another reason NOT to have them in the personnel file – they contain protected information about age, etc. Keep them separate.
- Don’t ask your employees to give you new documents unless you require it. For example, you do NOT need a new driver’s license after you have received on the first time – the CDL is there to show identification (for the I-9, at least). However, if you have an authorization to work card or temporary visa that DOES expire, that you MUST follow up and make sure you see a renewal.
DON’T FORGET JULY 1 IS APPROACHING – KNOW WHAT MINIMUM WAGE APPLIES TO YOU!
I know I wrote about this a few weeks back, but it bears repeating, because I’m starting to get emails from you all. And it seems every year I get the same questions about Los Angeles County v Unincorporated Los Angeles County. This year, it’s going to be even more important because the minimum wage for the Unincorporated Areas of LA County is $16.90.
So let’s go over this one more time, together, this time, because people are still really confused. And I get it, it’s confusing. So we will do this, slowly and clearly. Okay, there are 88 cities in Los Angeles County. And these 88 cities all cram into LOS ANGELES COUNTY. And on top of the 88 cities, this is this this little bitty area left over of the County, in between all the cities, that is the UNINCORPORATED part of Los Angeles County. It’s only a VERY SMALL PART of LA County. Most of the County is made up of these 88 distinct cities, Los Angeles being the largest of the 88 in Los Angeles County. It’s highly unlikely that this $16.90 wage from the Unincorporated LA County applies to you.
So, for example, there is a small part of LA County near Marina Del Rey that is not a city, it’s just LA County. There is a also a part near Valencia outside of the city of Santa Clarita. Not a city, just county. Same with Old Agoura, in between the Cities of Malibu and Agoura Hills. Those areas are all just LA County. I know, I lived in two of those. I couldn’t vote in LA elections, because I wasn’t in the city of Los Angeles.
Now, if you are in a city like Los Angeles, you have your own minimum wage. This year, your minimum wage will be LOWER than the unincorporated county of LA, and it will be $16.78. Lucky us in LA. But that is just us in the City Limits. That includes Hollywood, Encino, Sherman Oaks, Venice – none of these are official “cities.” They are just areas inside of the CITY of Los Angeles. However, if we get to Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, now, they are their own cities. But what is the difference? Santa Monica DOES have its own minimum wage. This year, it, too, is $16.90. So is Malibu.
But Beverly Hills? It does not. So if you are in the lovely, beautiful, wealthy city of Beverly Hills (where I just was for my doctor’s visit this very morning), that luscious and gorgeous city, home to Rodeo Drive, will still have its minimum wage at $15.50 – which is the wage set for the rest of California. Even though if I walk down the street to my office building in Century City, which is now in the CITY OF LOS ANGELES, it would be $16.78. OR, better yet, if I drive up just a couple of blocks to West Hollywood, where they held that lovely and colorful PRIDE event this weekend, their minimum wage will be the highest in the country on July 1 – $19.08.
But all the other 88 cities in Los Angeles County that do not have their own minimum wage, like Beverly Hills – Burbank, Glendale, Santa Fe Springs, Santa Clarita, Calabasas, Downey, Manhattan Beach, Torrance . . . they are all at $15.50 as well. Even though they are in Los Angeles County. Because you are in a CITY that does not have its own minimum wage.
So if you are in the County of Los Angeles, first check to see, are you in one of the 88 cities (including the city of LA). If you are, you are governed by that city’s minimum wage – IF that city has one. LA, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Malibu, WeHo, for example, all have their own. Most do NOT. If they do not, THEN you are governed by the STATE.
(by the way, this same exercise applies for other areas of the state, like San Diego, Oakland, San Jose – just at different times of the year!)
So, I hope that this is all clear. But as always, if you have questions, please, ask. I do know it is complicated, and a wee bit crazy.
A SHOUT OUT TO MY LA RESTAURANT OPERATORS – WE NEED YOU TO SUPPORT OUTDOOR DINING IN LOS ANGELES!
I can’t believe we are still fighting for this, and we need restaurateurs to show up in person for this. They for sure don’t want to hear from the likes of people like me, unfortunately. And while Christy Vega is a force, she can’t keep doing this alone. We ALL want to make sure we have the ability to keep dining out on these lovely patios that were created during COVID, but we get a lot of voices of protest at these things. They need to hear from YOU operators!!
The Al Fresco Dining Ordinance will be considered:
TOMORROW, June 6, 2023 at 2p
Los Angeles City Hall, Room 340
200 N Spring Street
Los Angeles CA 90012
Bring your voices!!!
Okay, I am running a bit behind today; I had that early morning checkup in Beverly Hills, as I mentioned. As suspected, my new water routine has dropped my blood pressure by many, many points. I’m feeling the best I have in years. So, keep hydrating and breathing, my friends. This year is flying by, and the passage of time scares the crap out of me. But as Dick Van Dyke says, all we can do is keep moving.
Stay well, everyone.
#StandWithUkraine | #PRIDEmonth