Angelo Paparelli and Jason Burritt Published in The Immigration Compliance Book
"Social Security 'No-Match' Letters: A Guide to Best Practices"

Angelo Paparelli and Jason Burritt published the article, "Social Security 'No-Match' Letters: A Guide to Best Practices" in The Immigration Compliance Book, which was edited by Angelo and published by ILW.com, the leading immigration law publisher. Their article discusses how a comparison of the same categories of information maintained across multiple databases often reveals discrepancies. Angelo and Jason note, "The phenomenon is indeed so commonplace that few databases administrators are surprised when such 'no match' situations arise."

Angelo and Jason observe, "When these discrepancies... involve more than $660 billion in wages accumulated by the Social Security Administration (SSA) for federal government tax years from 1937 through 2005, government leaders take notice." Additionally, they note that "When the agency charged with enforcing the immigration laws suspects that the lion's share of the accumulated funds are payroll withholdings contributed by foreign citizens who are unauthorized for employment [by] their U.S. employers, pressures mount on the politicians and the enforcing agency to take action." As a result, the authors explain that "in August 2007, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promulgated a final rule entitled 'Safe-Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter.'" The purpose of the rule, as described by DHS, is to provide employers with clear "Safe-Harbor" instructions and guidelines on the steps to take after receiving a "no-match" letter.

According to their article, after civil rights, labor and employer groups challenged the regulations, the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the rule. As such, the SSA has announced that it will not issue "no-match" letters until the District Court makes a final determination regarding the "Safe Harbor" regulation. The authors further note, "Without a clear and enforceable directive from the DHS, employers continue to face the same question: What do we do if the injunction is lifted, the no-match rule becomes effective in the same form as the originally proposed, and we receive a 'no-match' letter?" Angelo and Jason conclude by advising that "employers should take this opportunity to ensure that their employment authorization verification policies and procedures comply with the regulations and reflect best practices. Moreover, employers should begin planning now for the receipt of 'no match' letters to ensure proper action when SSA does again begin issuing the letters... an employer must take all reasonable and appropriate steps to resolve the discrepancy at the heart of the 'no-match' letter to avoid IRCA liability."