Temporary Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) flexibilities will end on Monday, July 31, 2023. Employers must now inspect identity and employment authorization documents in-person for all employees hired, since flexibilities began, by Wednesday, August 30, 2023. At which time I-9s must be annotated, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

For more information, visit I-9 Central. 

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Tax documents (like your W-2) are provided by your Employer of Record (EOR). If these materials aren’t automatically distributed, you’ll just need to reach out and request them from your EOR. Their contact information is easily accessible on the TiM platform (just look in the “Production Info” section of each project).  

For example: 

You can also find your Employer of Record information on start work documents like WTPA notices, W-4s, and W-9s. If you still have questions about where to find your EOR information for things like filing for unemployment or receiving copies of timely tax materials, go here.  

For Cast & Crew, CAPS, and Media Services employees 

Cast & Crew, CAPS, and Media Services employees can access their EOR and W-2 information through the MyCast&Crew portal here. If you’ve been paid by one of these companies in the past and have not yet set up your personalized hub, do it now by visiting the MyCast&Crew registration page. Once you’re signed up, you’ll be able to access all your important personal, professional, and tax documents anytime you need them. 

Helpful tips for signing up 

Already a TiM user? Then good news: you can use the same login credentials for MyCast&Crew. Both systems leverage OKTA as a single sign-on solution. Once you’re registered, you can sign up for direct deposit, update your preferred payment information, and modify your tax withholding, all from the convenience of a personalized hub. Simplify the process of storing and managing your personal and professional materials with MyCast&Crew. 

New to the platform? We’ve got your back. Here are some examples of the things you can do through your custom portal: 

• Learn how to access you W-2s 
• Learn how to update you W-4s 
• Learn how to register for direct deposit 

We’re here to help 

Questions? Want more information? Reach out to the Employee Help Desk at employeehelpdesk@castandcrew.com or 888.570.4650.

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and uptick in remote work, employers may be unable to inspect documents confirming residential status in a timely manner (to comply with the rules of the DHS). In these cases, employers may submit I-9s without having inspected these documents in person as long as they record the reasons for not being able to do so in a memorandum for each affected employee. 

If an employer does accept and submit an I-9 to ICE without first inspecting the appropriate documents, this must be noted on the form and revisited when flexibilities are dropped. These flexibilities apply to employees hired after April 1, 2021 and who only work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

For more information, read our blog post on properly completing Form I-9 during the pandemic. 

The post DHS Extends I-9 Flexibilities to July 2023 appeared first on Hello TiM.

The Department of Homeland Security is working to complete the next iteration of Form I-9 and will announce its completion when the department publishes the document to the Federal Register. 

Read the original announcement. 

The post Current Form I-9 Extended  appeared first on Hello TiM.

Now that government identification-issuing agencies have reopened to full pre-pandemic capacity, obtaining a renewed identity document is no longer considered burdensome. The policy of accepting expired ID was enacted in May 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic complicated ID renewal.

If your production accepted an expired List B Identity Document between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2022 and the document expired on or after March 1, 2020 and the crew member is still in your employ, you must update each crew member’s I-9 by July 31, 2022 with a renewed List B ID, a different unexpired List B ID or an unexpired List A ID.

If production submitted Form I-9 with an expired List B Identity Document between May 1, 2020 and April 30, 2022 and the crew member(s) is no longer employed with the production, no action is required.

The post Form I-9 Flexibility for Expired List B I.D. Ends appeared first on Hello TiM.

Employers may be unable to inspect documents confirming residential status in a timely manner in order to comply with the stringent rules of the DHS. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and uptick in remote work, employers may submit I-9s without having inspected these documents in person.

If an employer does accept and submit an I-9 to ICE without first inspecting the appropriate documents, this must be noted on the form and revisited when flexibilities are dropped. These flexibilities apply to employees hired after April 1, 2021 and who only work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, read our blog post on properly completing Form I-9 during the pandemic.

The post DHS Extends I-9 Flexibilities to October appeared first on Hello TiM.

COVID-19 Virtual Verification 

The government extended its popular deferment of in-person inspection of I-9 documents, allowing productions to submit I-9s with documents reviewed digitally until April 30, 2022.  

However, with current policies still in place, productions will have to inspect a crew member’s documents in-person when this deferment expires. 

Expired Documents Are Still Acceptable When Completing an I-9 in 2022 

Authorized “list B” documents that expired on or after March 1,2020 are still acceptable forms of ID, if the state that issued them has formally extended expiration. This provision was put into place in many locales since people were having trouble renewing documents at the start of the pandemic.  

If the state has extended expiration, you can complete Form I-9 and enter “COVID-19 EXT” in the Additional Information Field.  

For states that have not extended expiration, the expired documents can be accepted as “receipts” and must be updated as soon as renewed documents are available.  

Replacements for Expired Documents Treated as Receipts 

Updated USCIS provisions dictate that production crew members can now present alternate documents or a combination of documents to reaffirm originally submitted receipts or expired documents.  

In the past, if a crew member presented a receipt for a replacement of a document that was lost or destroyed, an employer would have to follow up within 90 days of hire. Now, employers can accept another document or combination of documents instead. 

If this is the case, employers should complete a new Section 2, attach it to the I-9, and provide an explanation on the second page of the I-9 in the “Additional Information” box. 

Penalties Increase for I-9 in 2022     

On top of penalty increases made by the DHS in October, which we covered in our last blog post, the Department of Justice announced an inflationary adjustment on December 13,2021.  

Fines for unfair immigration-related employment practices are now in the range of $487 to $3,901 per individual discriminated against.  

Take Note of State Laws on Immigration Before Hiring 

Some states have passed laws disallowing employers from making hiring decisions based on someone’s immigration status. A new law in Illinois does just that, and more states are expected to follow suit.   

Productions should remain vigilant of new state laws and readjust questions about immigration status accordingly before starting the hiring process.  

Software and Compliance 

When handling I-9s, perfection is key to avoid hefty fines that can and will add up quickly and put undue stress on your production’s bottom line. That’s why TiM integrates the very latest in I-9 compliance and makes it easy to keep your production compliant with evolving government standards.  

Read more about I-9 compliance in 2022 here.

The post Completing an I-9 in 2022  appeared first on Hello TiM.

It is the responsibility of the production to ensure I-9s are completed correctly before submitting to the government. In an effort to deter the employment of crew members who are undocumented, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reviews and enforces strict compliance.

On October 18, to keep pace with inflation and in keeping with its mandate, the DHS increased fines from a range of $234-$2,332 to a range of $237-$2,360. The new rates went into effect on November 2. 

Furthermore, penalties have increased for willfully hiring any undocumented production crew members or other employees. The first offense is now $590-$4,722; second offense is $4,722-$11,803; and $7,082-$23,607 for offenses thereafter.

For you, this means it’s best to only hire documented crew for your production and complete I-9s properly to avoid hefty fines that are charged on a per I-9 basis. If ICE determines there is a violation, your production has ten days to make the corrections and resubmit to avoid fines.  

If you cannot make the corrections in time, ICE calculates a rate of error by adding up “substantive” violations and dividing that number by the number of error-free I-9s you submitted. A graduated fine scale is then used in tandem with the rate of error to determine your fine. 

Avoid those fines on production! Carefully review I-9s before submitting them and be sure to make corrections to historical documents as soon as you can, otherwise it can cost you. 

TiM Digital Onboarding takes the brunt of the work off your hands. With crew compliance built in, you can rest assured your production is in good standing with government regulation.   

Read more here.  

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Two weeks ago, IATSE crew members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. Last week IATSE president Matthew Loeb set a deadline to strike. With a nationwide production shutdown looming, intense pressure to avoid an IATSE strike resulted in a new 3-year deal. The agreement includes nearly all provisions the union was prepared to strike for. 

According to an IATSE press release, “the proposed contract addresses core issues, including reasonable rest periods; meal breaks; a living wage for those on the bottom of the pay scale; and significant increases in compensation to be paid by new-media companies.” 

The agreement has not yet been officially released. The AMPTP and IATSE are working out final details and reviews and expect to release the deal early this week.  

When the tentative agreement is finalized, it will go to a vote among IATSE members, on a similar email-based platform used for the IATSE strike vote. Employees are encouraged to check with their local for updates on the matter. 

The AMPTP and IATSE will now continue negotiating the Area Standards Agreement, which affects film and TV crew workers in places such as Georgia, New Mexico, New York and other locales across the U.S. not covered by the West Coast Basic Agreement or East Coast Agreement.

The post IATSE Strike Averted After AMPTP and Crew Union Reach a Tentative Deal appeared first on Hello TiM.

The “yes” vote does not necessitate a strike. The authorization gives IATSE president Matthew Loeb an additional bargaining chip at the negotiating table with AMPTP and the right to call a strike if talks breakdown.

Production companies, studios and producers that AMPTP represent could also impose a lockout. A lockout is AMPTP’s high stakes bargaining chip, vesting them with the right to block union members on production crews from working until a deal is complete.  

AMPTP and IATSE agreed to extend the expiration of their agreement from July 31 to September 10. The extension was made to exhaust negotiations before any other measures were put into place. Now that the extended deadline has elapsed, both AMPTP and IATSE have the right to impose a lockout or strike, respectively, if negotiations don’t see progress.

Either option, should one occur, would temporarily put union crew members out of work and stall production across the industry.    

IATSE’s main requests pertain to what some crew members see as unsafe working conditions due to a lack of certain breaks during the workday and working hours which shorten weekend rest periods. Another point of contention for IATSE is discounted rates for New Media, especially streaming, which IATSE leadership has expressed is no longer an experiment.  

Talks broke down on September 21 when IATSE claimed AMPTP wouldn’t be returning a counter-offer to their requests surrounding these concerns.

The strike authorization effects only those crew members working under the Basic Agreement and Area Standards Agreement. Members working under other agreements have been advised that they should continue to work under their valid contracts. 

The post IATSE Crew Members Authorize Strike in a Landslide Vote  appeared first on Hello TiM.