Mailbag: Do Employees Hired Long Ago Still Need Form I-9s?

HR Dive · United States · Aug 17, 2026

According to Littler senior counsel Bruce Buchanan, virtually all current employees require a Form I-9 — only those hired before November 7, 1986 are grandfathered out of the requirement, making exceptions exceedingly rare today. With ICE ramping up notices of inspection, particularly in hospitality and restaurant sectors, employment attorneys are urging HR teams to proactively conduct self-audits of I-9 records, ideally under attorney-client privilege. Staffing agencies — which frequently onboard high volumes of workers in exactly these targeted industries — should treat this as a timely reminder to audit their own I-9 compliance practices.