What is a Social Security "no-match” letter?

A no-match letter is sent to employers and employees with a simple notification stating that the information on the worker's W-2 does not match that of the Social Security Administration's records. The discrepancies may come from simple human error, a misspelled name or transposed numbers in the Social Security number. This letter is not grounds for dismissal, rather it is an attempt of the SSA to update its database.

(More links to background and resources below)

What are the problems posed by the “no-match” letters?

When an employer receives a batch of no-match letters it is possible that the letter can be construed as an immigration enforcement tool. Whether out of fear of being accused of having previous knowledge of hiring an illegal immigrant or lack of virtue, employers often use this letter as a threat to employees. Some employees are fired on basis of the letter, but this only furthers the problem because the employer loses a valuable worker and may also be accused of discrimination.

• SSA’s overview of “no-match” letter process
• Equal Justice Center’s overview of the “no-match” letter problems
• Facts About the Social Security “No-Match” Letters

Recent Decision to hold on sending “no-match” letters

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has stated that it will not be sending no-match letters to employers until at least spring of 2008. This decision has followed a preliminary injunction on October 10, 2007 prohibiting the SSA from sending the letters. For the first time, “new” no-match letters were to be sent including threatening language from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) toward employers who do not take action against no-match letter recipients. The new rule would assume that no-match letters not taken care of within 90 days of receipt automatically means the employer had “constructive knowledge” of the “discrepancies” in the SSA’s database.

According to a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, along with others, the new rule violates the law as well as burdens employers and may cause discrimination against certain workers based on their perceived immigrant status. Judge Maxine Chesney of the Northern District of California ruled on the lawsuit and issued a restraining order preventing the letters from being sent on August 31st.

The Department of Homeland Security joined the SSA in arguing that halting the sending of the no-match letters would damage efforts to appropriately credit Social Security earnings to employer accounts, considering that the period from January to March is the SSA’s busiest time. Unmoved by the argument, the federal judge pointed out that the injunction does not disallow the letters to be sent, rather bans the DHS liability language from being used in the letters.

• National Immigration Law Center

Links:

• Sample No-Match Letter and Immigration and Customts Enforcement (ICE) Insert
• DHS Safe Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a "No-Match" Letter
• Toolkit for SSA No-Match Letters
  NILC collection of updated resources for organizers, advocates, and workers combatting misuse of the SSA no-match letters.
• NY Times article "The No-Match Non-Solution"
• ACLU article Government Abandons Current "No Match" Rule Harmful to Legal Workers
• Contract Language for Unions
  Examples of language for union contracts to help prevent misuse of no-match letters.
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