October 8, 2009 by Neelam Ihsanullah
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule rescinding the Social Security “No-Match” regulation. The so-called No-Match rule would have charged an employer with having “constructive knowledge” of the unauthorized employment of its employees if the employer failed to take certain steps in response to receiving a No-Match letter from the Social Security Administration, informing it that an employee’s name and Social Security Number provided for a W-2 earnings report did not match SSA’s records.
The No-Match rule was never implemented due to a preliminary injunction issued by the Northern District of California. Immigration advocates had sharply criticized the No-Match rule on the basis that N0-Match letters were often issued erroneously as a result of inaccurate SSA records, typographical errors, and unreported name changes. Recently, DHS decided to do away with the No-Match rule in favor of focusing its enforcement efforts on E-Verify, which is viewed as a more powerful method of identifying unauthorized workers. You can read more about DHS’ about-face on the No-Match rule here.
