Social Security No-Match Notices

Court Throws Social Security "No-Match" Rule Into Doubt

Federal Judge Grants Injunction to Block Proposed Federal Rule

New immigration rules were set to go into effect that would require all U.S. employers to resolve Social Security no-match notices. Under the rule, employers who failed to fire workers who were unable or unwilling to resolve Social Security discrepancies would face liability for employing unauthorized foreign workers.

But these rules were challenged in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 30 by the AFL-CIO, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations. On October 10, 2007, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction in AFL-CIO, et al. v. Chertoff, et al. (N.D. Cal. Case No. 07-CV-4472 CRB). The preliminary injunction enjoins and restrains the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) from implementing the final rule entitled "Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter."

The new rule was designed to establish a clear national policy on what is expected of employers once they receive a Social Security Employer Correction Request, commonly known as a "no-match letter." Labor unions and business groups argued that the new rule would have a catastrophic effect on companies across the country and lead to the dismissal of thousands of legal immigrants who would get unfairly caught up in questions about their documents.

The government has argued that the new rule is needed for employers who want to comply with the law. Justice Department attorneys, speaking on behalf of the DHS and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), refuted the claims that legal immigrants would be unfairly impacted, pointing to the legal protections already available under federal law.

The Oct. 10 ruling is a major setback to the efforts of DHS and ICE to use social security no-match letters as a means to disrupt the employment of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who are using false documents.