Final Approved Regulations for Social Security No-Match Letters
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced the approval of the final regulations under Social Security No-Match Letters. We wrote about this last year (here) when the proposed regulations were announced. According to information on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website,The DHS regulations and ICE describe what steps employers should take upon receipt of a no-match letter:
1) verifying within 30 days that the mismatch was not the result of a record-keeping error on the employer’s part;
2) requesting that the employee confirm the accuracy of employment records;
3) asking the employee to resolve the issue with SSA;
4) if these steps lead to resolution of the problem, follow instructions on the no-match letter itself to correct information with SSA, and retain a record of the verification with SSA; and
5) where the information could not be corrected, complete a new I-9 form without using the questionable Social Security number and instead using documentation presented by the employee that conforms with the I-9 document identity requirements and includes a photograph and other biographic data.
Employers unable to confirm employment through these procedures risk liability for violating the law by knowingly continuing to employ unauthorized persons.
ICE has made available a Safe Harbor Information Center along with a Worksite Enforcement Fact Sheet.
Follow this link to: The Final Rule on Safe Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter (8 CFR Part 274A).
All of this puts employers in the hot seat to verify identity and places potential liability on them for retaining employees who cannot prove that they can lawfully work in the US.