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Social Security Administration No-Match Letters: How to
Respond All of you have probably received “no-match” letters
from the Social Security Administration. Now, the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) has issued proposed regulations on how to
respond properly. If
you follow the regulations, you are entitled to a “safe harbor”
protecting you from liability for a “knowing hire” violation of the
Immigration and Naturalization Act. The regulations are not yet final. We will let you know when
they become final. For
now, we recommend following the proposed regulations. Within 14 days of receiving a no-match
letter: (i) check your records for clerical errors,
immediately correct any error, inform the relevant agency of the
error, and re-verify that the employee name and social security
number match agency records; and (ii) if the discrepancy remains unresolved, ask the
employee to confirm the accuracy of your records, correct any
inaccuracy, inform the relevant agency, and re-verify the corrected
records. If the
employee claims your records are correct, ask the employee to
attempt correcting the problem directly. Then re-verify the employee
name and social security number. If a discrepancy is not resolved within 60 days, you
should attempt re-verification by completing a new I-9 (treating the
employee as a new hire), but without relying on any document
containing the social security or alien number subject to a prior
no-match letter, and relying only on documents with a photo to
establish identity or both identity and employment
authorization. If each of these steps fails to achieve proper
verification, the regulations require you to choose between
terminating the employee, or facing the risk that DHS finds you have
committed a “knowing hire” violation. To read a full copy of the proposed regulation,
please click here. Please contact Jason D’Cruz at
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