Labor Employment Law Blog

Based in large part upon the federal court injunction barring the implementation of the USCIS regulations providing a safe harbor for employers who follow specific steps after receiving a no-match letter, the Social Security Administration has announced that it will not issue any No Match letters in 2007. Under the current plan, the earliest any new No-Match letters will be issued is the Spring of 2008.

On October 10, 2007, a U.S. federal court judge issued a preliminary injunction, preventing implementation of the “no-match letter” program developed by the Department of Homeland Security.  The “no-match letter” program was designed to crack down on the employment of undocumented immigrants.  Under the proposed program, employers notified of a “no-match” can be "safely harbored" if they acted within 90 days to verify the employment eligibility and authenticity of the social security number/documentation presented by their affected employee.  Employers would potentially face significant civil fines, as well as criminal charges, for failure to comply with the program and for continuing to employ undocumented aliens.

The Social Security Administration ("SSA") regularly issues "No-Match" letters to employers when it determines that the information provided by an employee on his or her W-2 form does not match that found in the SSA's database.  On August 15, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a new rule entitled "Safe Harbor Provisions for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter."  The new rule provided employers 90 days to clear up the discrepancy noted in a No-Match letter and, if unable to do so, the employer would be required to terminate the employee. The rule was scheduled to take effect on September 14, 2007.