The holiday season brings a surge in demand, and with it, immense pressure on employers to scale their workforce rapidly and efficiently with temporary holiday hiring. Navigating the complexities of large-scale hiring during this critical period can be daunting. From sourcing and onboarding a high volume of seasonal workers to ensuring compliance with labor laws and managing payroll, the challenges are multifaceted.
This checklist covers the essential requirements employers should keep in mind as they ramp up for seasonal hiring, including Form I-9 regulations, employment form requirements, and also tax credits available to offset hiring costs.
Tax Credits
First on your holiday hiring checklist should be tax credits. Why? Because the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) process must start before a job offer is made. WOTC helps offset hiring costs and help employers to contribute to the local economy with more jobs but they can be complicated and time consuming.
Employers must request and receive certification from their State Workforce Agency (SWA) that the new hire is a member of one of the WOTC target groups before they can claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit on their federal tax return.
To apply for WOTC certification, employers must:
- Complete the IRS Form 8850, Prescreening Notice and Certifications Requests for the Work Opportunity Tax Credits, by having the candidate fill out page 1 prior to the date of the job offer and then the employer complete page 2;
- Have candidates complete one of the following U.S. Department of Labor forms, as appropriate:
- IRS Form 9061, Individual Characteristics Form, or
- IRS Form 9062, Conditional Certification Form.
- Mail the completed and signed forms to the SWA within 28 days of the start date.
Individuals who qualify an employer for WOTC include qualified veterans, IV-A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients, ex-felons, designated community residents living in an empowerment zone, enterprise community or renewal community. Learn more about who qualifies for WOTC.
Form I-9 Management for Holiday Hiring
Ignoring Form I-9 compliance can lead to hefty penalties. Timely I-9 completion for last-minute short-term hires is crucial for employers to maintain compliance, along with fully understanding how to manage E-Verify with interim case results for short-term staff, navigating virtual inspections, and handling offboarding challenges.
The importance of Form I-9 management is best understood by penalties for noncompliance.
- Technical violation: $281 to $2,789
- Knowingly Hiring unauthorized individual: $689 to $5,579
- Second Offense: $5,579 to $13,946
- Third Offense: $8,369 to $27,894
Noncompliance can be costly and damaging, so finding ways to avoid I-9 noncompliance is crucial. Partnering with an I-9 management solution like Experian Employer Services can help you stay ahead of missing data and potential issues and ensure you’re complying with federal regulations while maintaining high-level security.
Employment Forms
Employment forms are numerous and diverse and are uniquely targeted to an individual’s location. Compliance requirements stem from the federal government, U.S. state and territory entities, and extensive local jurisdictions. Staying on top of the latest news for digital labor law posters and state separation notices is easier said than done, but essential for employers operating in numerous jurisdictions.
Employers should consider a solution like the Compliance Library from Experian Employer Services that presents all required forms to employees– based on their work and home address – making it easy for employees to complete necessary tasks and can remove all the burden of employment form compliance for employers gearing up for holiday hiring.
Eliminate the associated paperwork pains and additional cost of holiday hiring with this checklist, ensuring your organization is taking advantage of WOTC, has a solid process in place for Form I-9 management, and is capable of delivering the right forms to the right employees at the right time. Learn more about how Experian Employer Services can help, especially during this busy time.