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ICE penalties are increasing to $300 to $3000 per violation. Employers need to ensure compliance to escape extraordinary penalties.

• ICE’s revised I-9 inspection fact sheet sets forth many new substantive violations, which were previously viewed as technical errors.
• The fact sheet appears changes longstanding dictates of ICE’S prior memo setting out substantive and technical violations.
• Employers need to review their I-9 forms in light of these changes.

On March 16, 2026, the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued new rules regarding substantive and technical violations of Form I-9. These changes were made to ICE’s “Form I-9 Inspection Under Immigration and Nationality Act § 274A,” which is a longstanding fact sheet that lays out the I-9 inspection process. 

Since the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), U.S. employers have been required to verify the identity and employment authorization of all employees hired after November 6, 1986, by completing Form I‑9. ICE enforces this requirement via administrative inspections. An inspection begins with a Notice of Inspection (NOI), which requires employers to produce Forms I-9 and various employment-related documents.  Employers may request up to 3 days to prepare for such an inspection.

The Virtue Memo published in 1997 and named after the INS Acting Executive Commissioner of Programs set forth what the agency considered substantive Form I-9 errors subject to fines for violations, and correctable technical errors. That Memo was never converted into regulations, but it has been followed for 29 years by ICE and the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO).. OCAHO has held that dissemination of the Interim Guidelines to the public may be viewed as an invitation for the public to rely upon them as representing agency policy and the government is so bound, and failure to follow its own guidance is grounds for dismissal of those claims. See, e.g., United States v. WSC Plumbing, Inc., 9 OCAHO no. 1071, 11-12 (2001).

New Substantive Violations 

Based on a comparison of the March 2026 fact sheet and the Virtue Memo, the following errors are now treated as substantive Form I-9 violations:

• Failure to ensure an employee provides date of birth (DOB) in Section 1;
• Failure to ensure an employee provides their USCIS number in Section 1;
• Failure to record a date in Section 1 next to employee signature;
• No expiration date listed in Section 1, Box 4, regardless of whether such expiration date is listed in Section 2, List A, and/or the Employment Authorization Document (EAD);
• Use of Spanish-language I-9 outside of Puerto Rico; 
• Missing name and title of the employer representative; 
• List A, B, or C data not fully recorded/incorrectly recorded in Section 2, such as name of document, number of document, issuing authority, or expiration date, regardless of whether a copy of an underlying document, such as green card or driver’s license, was retained;
• Failure to provide the first day of employment in the Certification;
• Failure to ensure that the preparer and/or translator’s complete name, address, signature, and date are provided on Form I-9 at the time of completion in Supplement A;
• When utilizing remote verification procedure, the employer representative fails to check the alternative procedure box in Section 2 or Supplement B indicating that remote inspection was used and/or is not an active E-Verify participant when using the alternative procedure; and
• Failures of electronic I-9 system’s audit trails, electronic signature protocols, or security documentation that falls short of specific DHS standards. 

New Technical Errors

Additionally, the fact sheet sets forth “new” technical errors, many of which were already widely considered technical errors but not specifically set forth in the Virtue Memo:

• If an employer is enrolled in E-Verify, failing to ensure that the employee’s Social Security Number is listed and correct in Section 1;
• Failing to record the employee’s complete name at the top of page 2, if applicable, at the top of Supplement A, or at the top of Supplement B;
• Failing to ensure that an employee provides their other last names used, if any; 
• Failing to record an employee's new name, if applicable, in the appropriate section of Supplement B during reverification; 
• Failing to use the version of Form I-9 that was current at the time the form was initially completed;
• Failing to ensure an employee provides an address in Section 1; and
• Failing to provide the business address in Section 2.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

In the past two years, ICE has increased I‑9 audit activity, with industries such as construction, staffing, hospitality manufacturing, and retail seeing disproportionate enforcement attention. The reclassification of errors raises the stakes of inspections in an already aggressive enforcement environment.

The new substantive violations mean there will be much higher financial exposure for employers. For more than 25 years, immigration compliance attorneys have informed employers that specific violations, such as technical errors, do not require remediation prior to the start of an ICE I-9 audit, as ICE allows time to correct these errors during the audit process. However, these technical errors will now be classified as substantive violations and must be remediated before ICE issues their NOIs. 

By expanding the list of substantive violations, ICE has substantially reduced employers’ ability to avoid fines for routine administrative mistakes. For large employers with hundreds or thousands of I‑9s, the cumulative exposure can be substantial. 

ACTION ITEMS FOR EMPLOYERS:

1. Contact their immigration compliance attorney and request an internal I-9 audit. Even if one has been done in the last few years, employers should go back and review their audit results to determine whether previously identified technical errors that are now substantive violations were remediated after the audit.
2. If an employer uses an electronic I-9 system, it should ensure full compliance with federal regulatory requirements, including audit trails, indexing, and electronic signature standards.
3. Evaluate proper use of DHS-authorized alternative procedures and E-Verify enrollment, if applicable.
4. Avoid reliance on copies of documents to cure missing data on Forms I-9, as ICE no longer treats such errors as technical errors.
5. Retrain authorized representatives on proper I-9 completion requirements, emphasizing completeness of Sections 1 and 2, and Supplement B.

With penalties soon to reach $300 to $3,000 for each violation, and the above changes on what will be considered as substantive and subject to a fine, it’s vital that employers to take steps to secure compliance. 

Above information based on Littler Mendelson bulletin.

By Luiza Mills, Interstate Electrical Corporation

Each year ABC’s national convention is jam packed with events and award presentations.  This year’s convention in Salt Lake City last month was no exception, but amid all the noteworthy moments, I’d like to take a moment to shine a light on the National Craft Championships that were also part of the agenda.

At the national championships, apprentices from across the country who have won local competitions participate in hands-on competitions in a range of trades. 

ABC MA apprentices have always done our chapter proud at the national championships, and that was true again this year even though we didn’t have any who took home medals.  Christopher Natsis from Professional Electrical Contractors of Connecticut participated in the Electrical-Residential category, Chase Mitchell from DECCO in Pipefitting, Damien Underwood from Notch Mechanical Constructors in Tig Welding, and Notch’s Sam LaPrise in Pipe Welding.

These competitors are the future of our industry and of ABC MA, and they are testament to the quality of training our companies provide.  The future is even brighter now with the opening of the Gould Construction Institute’s new Billerica training facility in the last couple years.  It provides a venue where Gould can offer hands-on training – and allows us to host the local championships each November at our own facility.

So here’s to Chris, Chase, Damien and Sam, and here’s to the Gould Construction Institute and all our companies that are training the next generation of trade professionals.  This November, come on out to Billerica and watch the next group of apprentices who will ascend to leadership roles in our Chapter and the industry as a whole.  You’ll be glad you did.  

The construction industry had 202,000 job openings on the last day of February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings decreased by 28,000 in February and are down by 53,000 from the same time last year.

“Construction hiring fell to the slowest rate on record in February,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “At the same time, contractors remained reluctant to lay off workers while employees were even more reluctant to leave. The combination of historically slow hiring and exceedingly few separations made February 2026 the month with the least construction labor force churn since the BLS began this survey in December 2000.

“Of course, this data pertains to February, when the Strait of Hormuz was open and the price of oil was under $100 per barrel,” said Basu. “While contractors continue to express optimism regarding their staffing intentions, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, recent data and developments suggest that hiring is unlikely to rebound in the near future.”

The construction industry added 26,000 jobs in March, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment has grown by 57,000 jobs, an increase of 0.7%.

Nonresidential construction employment increased by 12,200 positions, with gains in all three subcategories. Nonresidential building added the most jobs, increasing by 4,500 positions. Nonresidential specialty trade and heavy and civil engineering added 3,900 and 3,800 jobs, respectively, in March.

The construction unemployment rate was 6.7% in March. Unemployment across all industries dropped to 4.3% but is still 0.1 percentage points higher than one year ago.

“Construction employment rebounded in March as both the residential and nonresidential segments added jobs for the month,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Industrywide employment has expanded by an average of 19,300 jobs per month in 2026. That’s a marked improvement from 2025, when construction employment actually declined, but there remains cause for concern about the industry’s outlook.

“The March jobs data do not capture the detrimental ways in which the conflict in Iran will continue to affect the construction industry,” said Basu. “Oil prices have risen to heights not seen since 2022 and diesel prices have soared to $5.40 per gallon, up more than $1.90 per gallon from the start of 2026. At the same time, higher treasury yields have put renewed pressure on borrowing costs. While contractors were relatively optimistic about the near-term outlook as of February, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, it remains to be seen how long that optimism can persist under current economic conditions.”

By: Joanna R. Turpin

A class-action lawsuit filed March 20, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan alleges that several of the largest HVAC equipment manufacturers coordinated actions that led to higher prices beginning in January 2020.

The case, Berg v. Robert Bosch, LLC, et al., was filed by plaintiff Alyssa Berg, who is seeking to represent a class of individuals and businesses that purchased HVAC equipment from 2020-present. The complaint names Trane, Carrier, Daikin, Bosch, Lennox, Rheem, and AAON as defendants, noting that together these companies control more than 90% of the U.S. HVAC equipment market.

The lawsuit alleges that, beginning in January 2020 and continuing through today (the “class period”), the defendants participated in a coordinated effort to increase prices for residential and commercial HVAC equipment. The complaint characterizes these actions as a form of price-fixing, asserting that manufacturers engaged in a series of “frequent and repeated secret meetings, information sharing, communications, and public signaling [that] drove the prices of HVAC equipment to historic levels.”

Price Increases

Manufacturers have publicly attributed price increases in recent years to a range of factors, including supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, rising raw material costs, regulatory changes such as updated efficiency standards, and the phasedown of HFC refrigerants under the AIM Act. However, the plaintiffs contend these factors do not fully explain the scale of price increases since 2020. The complaint argues that the cited cost pressures served as “pretextual justifications, unsupported by the actual data.” For example, it states that the COVID-19 pandemic does not account for the magnitude of HVAC equipment price increases during the class period, noting that the HVAC producer price index (PPI) rose faster than both the consumer price index (CPI) and the PPI for major household appliance manufacturing.

The complaint also dismisses regulations as a driver of higher equipment costs. It states, “Neither does the new SEER2 energy conservation standards — defendants had, at a minimum, six years to develop compliant HVAC equipment. Finally, the HVAC equipment industry itself led domestic efforts to phase out HFCs, investing billions in the transition and beginning their advocacy over 20 years before the restrictions took effect in 2025.”

Raising prices simply because a competitor raised theirs is not illegal; what crosses the line is when competitors make an agreement beforehand to raise prices, effectively removing competition. Antitrust law differentiates between “conscious parallelism” (legal) and “agreement/conspiracy” (illegal). The former occurs when competitors in a concentrated market independently adopt similar business strategies by observing or reacting to the actions of their competitors. For a lawsuit to avoid being dismissed, courts require evidence of actions that go beyond parallel behavior.

The plaintiffs in this lawsuit allege that Trane, Carrier, Daikin, Bosch, Lennox, Rheem, and AAON did indeed agree beforehand to raise prices, and then “fraudulently concealed their conspiracy” through in-person meetings and coded language.

“Defendants used terms like ‘discipline’ and ‘price realization,’ and spoke of maintaining margins as a priority over competing for market share, to hide the conspiracy’s existence and accomplish the conspiracy’s goals, while also providing reassurance to co-conspirators of their continued commitment to the anticompetitive agreement,” the complaint stated.

Industry Groups

Manufacturers are not the only HVAC industry players mentioned in the lawsuit. The complaint also identifies two industry organizations as playing roles in “facilitating the conspiracy.”

The first is the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), a trade association representing HVAC manufacturers. AHRI provides industry statistics, including shipment reports and data subscription services, to its members. The filing claims that this “extensive sharing of information available only to AHRI members who also agreed to share their own data with their competitors” contributed to coordinated pricing behavior.

The second is The Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration NEWS, which publishes articles on pricing, price increases, and quarterly public earnings reports from HVAC manufacturers. The complaint alleges that Trane, Carrier, Daikin, Bosch, Lennox, Rheem, and AAON used this coverage in ACHR NEWS as a method to communicate their intentions amongst each other, as well as give their price increases legitimacy.

“Defendants used ACHR News to signal to one another to perpetuate the conspiracy and communicate their adherence to it,” the complaint said. “Defendants extensively and nearly exclusively relied on ACHR News to immediately publish and disseminate their price increase announcements throughout the Class Period.”

The complaint also notes that ACHR NEWS staff regularly attended AHRI and other industry conferences and provided coverage of those events.

The lawsuit also references Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), which publishes HVAC market data and industry insights. The complaint states, “while ostensibly set up to support HVAC distributors, it is clear that HARDI provided the defendant-manufacturers with further opportunities to collude. For example, at the 2025 HARDI Annual Conference, a “Supplier Town Hall” was held, “dedicated to Supplier Manufacturers!”

In filing this lawsuit, the plaintiff is seeking monetary damages, “as well as equitable relief, on behalf of all entities and persons who purchased HVAC equipment in the United States between January 1, 2020, through the present manufactured by a defendant for end use in a residential or commercial building.” The plaintiff argues that purchasers paid inflated prices as a result of a “price-fixing conspiracy” among manufacturers.

Manufacturers named in the lawsuit have not yet publicly responded to the specific claims outlined in the complaint.

Total nonresidential construction spending was virtually unchanged in January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.245 trillion.

Spending was down on a monthly basis in 9 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Private nonresidential spending was down 0.4%, while public nonresidential construction spending was up 0.6% in January.

“Private nonresidential construction spending contracted for the fourth consecutive month in January and is now down 8% from the December 2023 all-time high,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While harsh winter weather likely bears some blame, the major issue is the ongoing decline in computer/electronic manufacturing construction. With CHIPS Act-incentivized megaprojects wrapping up, spending in that subcategory is down nearly 40% over the past 18 months.

“With the exception of data centers, which saw another 2% jump in spending during January, there are few sources of momentum to offset the precipitous decline in manufacturing construction activity,” said Basu. “This lackluster performance is especially concerning in light of the ongoing conflict in Iran, which will ignite materials price escalation and heighten already elevated levels of economic uncertainty. While ABC’s Construction Backlog Indicator rebounded slightly in February, rising 0.1 months from January’s four-year low, it may be a difficult first half of 2026 for many contractors.”

Construction input prices increased 1.3% in February compared to the previous month, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data. Nonresidential construction input prices also increased 1.3% for the month.

Overall construction input prices are 3.1% higher than one year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 3.7% higher. Prices increased in all three energy categories last month. Natural gas and unprocessed energy materials prices were up 10.9% and 6.0%, respectively, while crude petroleum prices were up 4.7% in February.

“Construction materials costs surged in February due to significant increases in oil, copper, lumber and steel prices,” said ABC chief economist Anirban Basu. “Notably, this data does not reflect the precipitous increase in oil prices, which are near $100/barrel as of this morning, caused by the conflict in Iran. That will put upward pressure on construction materials prices directly by raising diesel prices and, indirectly, by raising the cost of shipping other inputs.

“While input prices are still up a relatively modest 3.1% since February 2025, they rose at a staggering 12.6% annualized rate during the first two months of 2026,” said Basu. “Which is to say, materials price escalation could serve as a real headwind to construction activity over the next several months. Fewer than 1 in 4 contractors expect their profit margins to shrink over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index. Those expectations will bear close monitoring if input prices continue their rapid ascent.”

By Luiza Mills, Interstate Electrical Services Corporation

Earlier this month we celebrated Women in Construction Week. This is a perfect opportunity to highlight the growing role women play in our industry. As of 2024, 11.2 percent of the U.S. construction workforce was female.  All told, there were about 1.34 million women working in our industry, up from 802,000 in 2012.

Just as encouraging is the fact that women in construction are closer to achieving wage parity than are women in the economy as a whole.  Nationwide, women earn 83 cents for every dollar men earn, but in construction women earn 94 percent of what men do.  We can’t rest on our laurels until the gender wage gap disappears, but these numbers represent progress. 

The same is true for the overall number of women in our industry.  Although participation among women is growing, with ABC estimating that the industry will need an additional 349,000 workers to meet demand this year, 11.2 percent is not enough.  Our companies must attract qualified employees of every background regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or national origin.

Yet amid this generally encouraging news came a big step backward earlier this month, when Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced a union-only project labor agreement for the $1.2 billion replacement of a drawbridge connecting Boston and Cambridge.  Excluding the 82.7 percent of the Massachusetts construction workforce from a project hurts those workers and the taxpayers forced to pay more for projects due to reduced competition, few are more hurt by PLAs than women and minorities. 

As the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts wrote to state lawmakers in 2021, PLAs require contractors to hire solely from union halls, where “most Black construction workers and other workers of color do not belong.”  Both Women Construction Owners and Executives and the National Black Chamber of Commerce have gone on record opposing PLAs.  

We’re living through a time of great progress in the construction industry, but many challenges remain.  Few are more pressing than the need to include all qualified workers in the construction workforce and doing that will require us to redouble our efforts on behalf of free and open competition.

Associated Builders and Contractors reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator rose to 8.1 months in February, according to an ABC member survey conducted Feb. 20 to March 6. The reading is up 0.1 months from January but down 0.2 months from February 2025.  

View the full Construction Backlog Indicator and Construction Confidence Index data series.

Backlog increased sharply during February in the Middle States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Notably, the Middle States is the only region with higher backlog than one year ago. 

ABC’s Construction Confidence Index readings for sales and staffing levels increased again in February, while the reading for profit margins fell. Sales expectations are better than they were one year ago, while profit margin and staffing expectations are slightly worse. The readings for all three components remain above the threshold of 50, indicating expectations for growth over the next six months.

“Backlog bounced back from January’s four-year low, yet it remains subdued by historical standards,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “It’s notable that backlog growth has been confined to the Middle States region. After struggling in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, the Midwest has posted surprisingly strong population and economic growth over the past year, and that growth has clearly translated into increased levels of construction activity. 

“Contractors under contract to work on data centers (11.2 months) continue to have significantly longer backlog than those who are not (7.6 months),” said Basu. “While data center work should continue apace over the next few quarters, the conflict in Iran, which began during this middle of this month’s CBI survey period, may suppress demand for other forms of construction work due to elevated materials prices, borrowing costs and uncertainty. 

“While contractors remain slightly optimistic that their profit margins will expand over the next six months, that confidence may not survive the recent and precipitous increase in oil prices,” said Basu. “Rising input costs, if persistent, could weigh on hiring expectations, which were particularly upbeat in February. The CCI series for staffing level expectations rose to the highest level since March 2025.”

The construction industry had 231,000 job openings on the last day of January, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. JOLTS defines a job opening as any unfilled position for which an employer is actively recruiting. Industry job openings decreased by 14,000 in January and are down by 1,000 from the same time last year.

“While construction hiring accelerated in January, rising to the fastest rate since the first half of 2025, that’s unfortunately not saying much,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “The industry’s hiring rate is still slower than at any point between the start of the data series in 2001 and the end of 2019. Contractors remain confident that their staffing levels will expand over the next six months, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index, although that confidence has remained intact for much of the past several years while hiring has remained subdued.”