On October 10, 2007, a U.S. District Court judge in San Francisco barred the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ("DHS") from issuing “no-match” letters that threaten to prosecute businesses for failure to fire employees whose social security (“SSN”) numbers do not match government records. In issuing the preliminary injunction to stop the distribution of such letters, the Court stated that employers and legal workers would suffer enormous hardship from immediate enforcement of the proposed no-match regulation. The no-match regulation was originally scheduled to take effect on September 14, 2007. 

This injunction is in line with union and major business group challenges against the proposed no-match regulation claiming it is fatally flawed because it relies on error-filled social security records. Such erroneous records could potentially lead to the firing of numerous U.S. citizens and legal residents. Though the Court’s decision to issue an injunction may have been motivated by the potential termination of authorized workers, the Court has yet to decide upon the merits of the lawsuit.   

Prior to the recent injunction, the U.S. government expected to send no-match letters to approximately 140,000 employers, targeting a workforce of more than 8 million. Upon receiving the no-match letter, the employer would have had 90 days to resolve the discrepancy, and an additional 3 days to have the employee submit a new, valid number. Failure to resolve the mis-match would require the employer to terminate the employment of the affected employee(s) or risk the imposition of penalties for knowingly hiring or continuing to employ an individual who is not authorized to work in the United States.

The DHS will likely appeal the Court’s injunction.

How This Affects You

While this injunction is not the final decision to the lawsuit to halt implantation of DHS’ proposed no-match regulation, it does stop the government from implementing the proposed regulation while the lawsuit continues, which could last for several months. The Court is expected to provide details on how this injunction will be carried out.

We will provide further information as it becomes available.