John Valdez’s Legal Blog

Within the next few days, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (”ICE”) of the Department of Homeland Security intends to publish a new rule involving no-match letters that could impact millions of employers.  A no-match letter is a letter from the Social Security Administration informing an employer that its records do not match information provided by the employer about the employee.  There are many possiblities why this type of information does not match, but according to the government, by far the most common reason is that the employee has provided the employer with false information in order to work without authorization.

The government attempted to issue this regulation back in August 2007, but the rule was challenged in Court and an injunction stopped implementation of the rule; the legal case is still pending.   The government appears so confident that it has addressed the Court’s concerns and will soon prevail in the litigation that it is publishing the new rule.  The rule will state how certain employers receiving no match letters can follow a suggested set of procedures over a 93 day period.  The procedures include new I-9 verification in some cases.   If the employer follows these so-called safe harbor procedures, it will generally not be held liable for breaking laws regarding illegal employment. 

We will soon know if the government will prevail in the litigation action.  If it does, we will provide detailed information regarding how your company can address the receipt of a no match letter.