Federal Government Fines Its Own Janitorial Service for I-9 Violations

Maria del Carmen Ramos
Maria del Carmen Ramos

The Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (“OCAHO”) for the Executive Office for Immigration Review (“EOIR”), in United States v. Clean Sweep Janitor Service, has reduced Clean Sweep’s fines from $12,623 to $6,750.

The case began with an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) investigation into Clean Sweep, which, ironically, was the janitorial service it paid to clean its own offices for more than ten years. According to the complaint, Clean Sweep is a woman-owned small family business located in Alpine, California that has cleaned the offices of a long list of other federal agencies including the IRS, SSA, and DEA.

Although the investigation failed to find any unauthorized workers at Clean Sweep, it did ascertain that the company had failed to prepare I-9 Forms for 15 current or former employees. ICE sought an adjusted penalty of $12,623 which Clean Sweep felt was excessive and would be a “devastating financial blow” to the company. While OCAHO reduced Clean Sweep’s fine to $6,750 for its failure to prepare I-9s for 15 employees, it took pains to point out that it regarded this offense as one of the “most serious violations because it completely subverts the purpose of the employment verification requirements.”

Our firm provides an array of service options to assist you in your I-9 compliance efforts. For details, please contact Maria del Carmen Ramos at 813.227.2252 or mramos@slk-law.com.

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