The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a temporary policy allowing employers to accept expired List B identity documents when completing Form I-9. Specifically, List B documents set to expire on or after March 1, 2020 may be treated the same as if the employee presented a valid List B document for Form I-9 purposes.

If an employee has an expired document that is not otherwise extended by the issuing authority, the employer must record the document information in Section 2 under List B and write “COVID-19” in the Additional Information Field. Within 90 days after the temporary policy ends, the employee must provide a valid, unexpired document to replace the expired document given when they were initially hired. However, the employee may present a different List A or List B document and is not required to present an unexpired version of the earlier document. The employer must record the new document information in the Additional Information Field and initial and date the change.

If an employee has an expired document that is extended by the issuing authority, the employer must record the document’s expiration date in Section 2, enter “COVID-19 EXT” in the Additional Information Field, and  attach a copy of a webpage or other notice indicating that the issuing authority has extended the documents.  Where the issuing authority has extended the validity of the document, the employee is not required to later present a valid, unexpired List B document.

Employers should stay informed for when this temporary policy is discontinued by the Department of Homeland Security to return to regular Form I-9 procedures and update completed Form I-9’s where applicable.

Action Items

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued a final rule that allows employers to pay bonuses or other incentive-based pay to salaried, nonexempt employees whose hours vary from week to week. Specifically, employers can pay bonuses, premium payments, or other additional pay, such as commissions and hazard pay, using the fluctuating workweek method of calculating overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

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The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a final rule updating the hours of service rules for commercial vehicle drivers.  Originally adopted in 1937, the hours of service rules specify how long commercial drivers are permitted to operate a vehicle.  A proposed rule was first published in August in 2019, and the final rule issued on May 14, 2020 contains four key changes:

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On May 6, 2020, Gov. Newsom issued an Executive Order stating that employees are presumed to have contracted COVID-19 in the workplace for purposes of receiving workers’ compensation benefits if certain criteria are met. A few weeks later, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) issued FAQs to further explain how the Executive Order will be applied. The FAQs confirm that all California employees who work at a jobsite outside their home at the direction of their employer between March 19, 2020 and July 5, 2020 and who test positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of working at their jobsite are presumed to have contracted any COVID-19-related illness at work for the purposes of awarding workers’ compensation benefits. There is no distinction between employees working in “essential” industries or providing “essential” services and those who are not.

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