Every employer has to fill out an I-9 form for new employees. New employees have to provide evidence of 1) Identity and 2) the legal right to work in the USA. Employees can provide any of the types of ID listed for each category, and there are many on that list, but the employer cannot require specific IDs.
This company asked for specific IDs in violation of the law, which is why they're agreeing to pay a fine.
Details matter
Every employer has to fill out an I-9 form for new employees. New employees have to provide evidence of 1) Identity and 2) the legal right to work in the USA. Employees can provide any of the types of ID listed for each category, and there are many on that list, but the employer cannot require specific IDs.
This company asked for specific IDs in violation of the law, which is why they're agreeing to pay a fine.
The precautions they were taking could be because they were hit with an I-9 audit in the past.
Could be, but that's illegal. The employer has to accept any document from the list, the employer cannot ask for specific documents.