Temporary Order Stops Implementation of Anti-Worker Social Security No Match Letters Regulations of the Department of Homeland Security

Federal Judge Maxine Chesney signed a Temporary Restraining Order restraining implementation of new regulations from the Department of Homeland Security concerning Social Security “no-match” letters. She has scheduled a hearing on a Preliminary Injunction for October 1st, so the new regulations cannot be implemented before that date.

The regulations are detailed instructions to employers who receive letters from the Social Security Administration saying that employee names do not match their social security numbers.  These “no match” letters are nothing new --- people often forget to notify the SSA when they get married and change their name, or employers make bureaucratic mistakes entering this information, or the SSA is just disclosing its own sloppy record-keeping.  What is new are these regulations, which would give an employer and employee 90 days to clarify and correct any such errors --- in the absence of clarification and correction, the employee may end up fired, and the employer may end up being investigated and/or indicted.

The challenge to the regulations has been mounted by the AFL CIO, the ACLU, as well as the San Francisco Central Labor Council, the San Francisco Building Trades Council, and the Alameda County Central Labor Council. All these groups have joined in trying to stop these draconian measures from being used to threaten workers with termination and deportation.