Since the passage of the 2010 Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) reform bill, employers face ongoing changes in their use and access to criminal history information. By enhancing regulations around criminal history checks, the CORI bill aims to create greater employment opportunities for past criminal offenders.

CORI reform affects both regular employers and certain regulated employers, such as schools and long-term care facilities, which are required by law to obtain additional CORI information. Employers that do not abide by new CORI regulations may face steep fines as high as tens of thousands of dollars for each offense.

Below, we’ll review some of the main changes to CORI regulations that employers should be aware of:

The U.S. Supreme Court, on March 26, 2012, the first day of three days set aside by the court to hear arguments on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s health care reform act, considered the little publicized yet crucial issue of whether the Anti-Injunction Act, a law passed in 1867, prevents the court from issuing a ruling in the lawsuit before it (Department of Health and Human Services v. Florida, No. 11-398).

Here are summaries of four pieces of legislation of which employer’s should take note:

The I-9 is a pain to fill out, especially for as many employees as staffing firms have, but the fines that can come from incorrect I-9 processes are a lot more painful. So we’ve all got to bring our A game for I-9s.

The fines for I-9 mishaps can range from a low of $110 per form for failing to comply with I-9 requirements or something called “document abuse” up to $6,500 per worker for committing or participating in document fraud, if it’s your third offense. And that’s all independent of whether or not the folks you hired are authorized to work in the U.S.

Because these fines are per worker or per form, as staffing companies, we need to keep a close eye on them and make sure our I-9 processes are accurate, consistent and executed flawlessly every time.

Here are some potential I-9 pitfalls and how to avoid them:

Mistakes not to make during your interviews!