Paper I-9s, AI Bias and $27K Fines: Where HR Compliance Breaks in 2026
OutSolve Founder and CEO Jeremy Mancheski joins Ryan Leary on the You Should Know podcast to unpack the HR compliance risks employers keep missing in 2026, from paper I-9 backlogs and ICE enforcement to AI hiring bias, remote work rules, and outdated break room posters.
Arlington, TX (Newsworthy.ai) Wednesday Aug 12, 2026 @ 4:45 PM EDT
Wiilliam TIncup
“You could have up to $27,000 for a fine for a violation in I-9s, and that's per employee. So if you have a percentage of your employees that have an incorrect I-9, and you don't have to go that far on the news to see that ICE enforcement is prevalent right now.”
The latest episode of You Should Know, titled The HR Compliance Risks Companies Keep Missing, hosted by Ryan Leary of the WRKdefined Podcast Network, brings listeners a candid conversation with Jeremy Mancheski, Founder and CEO of OutSolve. Published August 11, 2026, the episode examines why HR compliance has grown harder in a landscape of overlapping federal, state, city and county rules, aggressive ICE enforcement, and rapidly emerging AI hiring tools. Mancheski, who founded OutSolve in 1998, explains why technology has not eliminated the need for experienced human oversight and where most employers are quietly exposed.
Leary and Mancheski cover the ground where compliance actually breaks down inside real companies. Topic threads include:
Wiilliam TIncup
“You could have up to $27,000 for a fine for a violation in I-9s, and that's per employee. So if you have a percentage of your employees that have an incorrect I-9, and you don't have to go that far on the news to see that ICE enforcement is prevalent right now.”
- The persistence of paper I-9 forms and inconsistent retention practices in an electronic era
- Remote workforce risk across differing state, city and county posting, pay transparency and reporting rules
- AI hiring decisions, potential bias, and the Workday-related litigation raising accountability questions
- Break room compliance posters as the overlooked foundation of a company's compliance posture
- The uncertain future of the EEO-1 report and why blue states are building their own versions
Mancheski does not soft-pedal the financial stakes. "You could have up to $27,000 for a fine for a violation in I-9s, and that's per employee," he tells Leary, noting that ICE enforcement is currently prevalent and that most employers have deficiencies they do not know about. On the political whiplash reshaping HR, he adds: "You've had harder swings in one direction, then the next administration swings them in the other, and it's muddied those lanes a bit." The conversation is direct, practical, and grounded in what OutSolve's roughly 70 HR compliance consultants see inside client accounts every week.
The deeper argument in the episode is that what is old is new again. Mancheski points to the mid-1990s shift from paper applications to applicant tracking systems as a mirror for today's move from paper I-9s to electronic verification, including remote I-9 verification that emerged during COVID. He also urges HR leaders to physically read their break room posters, because federal OSHA notices and state-specific requirements often reveal contradictions between red-state and blue-state obligations. On AI, he compares current hiring tools to those first-generation ATS platforms: useful, but flawed, with bias issues that plaintiffs' attorneys and regulators are already testing in court.
About You Should Know
You Should Know is a WRKdefined Podcast Network show co-hosted by Ryan Leary and William Tincup that unpacks the pivotal leadership challenges reshaping the workplace. Reaching more than 3.9 million verified listeners each month, the podcast explores workforce dynamics, career mobility, HR technology and the human side of the evolving world of work. Learn more at wrkdefined.com/podcast/you-should-know. The episode is available now wherever podcasts are heard.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who is Jeremy Mancheski and what does OutSolve do?
- Jeremy Mancheski is the Founder and CEO of OutSolve, an HR compliance consultancy he started in 1998 to help federal contractors write affirmative action plans. Today OutSolve employs roughly 70 full-time HR compliance consultants who guide customers through overlapping federal, state, city and county requirements, using technology as a tool while relying on human expertise to solve client problems.
- Why are paper I-9 forms such a big compliance risk in 2026?
- Mancheski says many employers still rely on paper I-9s with inconsistent storage, unclear retention, and even lost or flood-damaged boxes. With ICE enforcement prevalent and fines reaching up to $27,000 per employee for violations, moving to electronic I-9 systems, including remote verification introduced during COVID, is one of the fastest ways HR leaders can reduce exposure.
- Why does Mancheski keep talking about break room posters?
- He calls posters the basic blocking and tackling of compliance, and OutSolve sells millions each year. Posters carry federal OSHA and state-specific notices, and a missing or outdated poster can be used by a plaintiff's attorney as evidence of a deficient process. He urges HR leaders to actually read them because they often reveal red-state versus blue-state contradictions.
- How is AI changing HR compliance risk?
- Mancheski compares today's AI hiring tools to the first applicant tracking systems of the late 1990s: useful but flawed, particularly around bias in automated decisions. He references a large Workday-related settlement raising the question of who is ultimately responsible when AI makes hiring calls, and warns employers remain accountable for unlawful outcomes even when software makes the decision.
- What should HR leaders do in the next 120 days to reduce risk?
- Mancheski recommends auditing the paper I-9 process first, including retention and remote verification, because most employers have deficiencies they do not know about. He also advises maintaining EEO-1 style data even if the federal report is rescinded, since legal challenges, midterms and state-level versions in bluer states could quickly revive the requirement.
- Why is remote work making compliance harder for employers?
- Mancheski explains that COVID forced companies into large-scale remote work almost overnight, and HR has had to catch up ever since. Each state, city and county can impose different posting, pay transparency, reporting and employment rules, so a workforce spread across 20 jurisdictions creates a multidimensional compliance problem that is nearly impossible to track manually.
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