No-Match Letters: An Update

As the court acknowledged, nothing in this preliminary injunction precludes the Social Security Agency from following its normal procedures and sending out No-Match letters without DHS guidance letters, as the agency has been doing for over a decade.

A hearing on whether to continue the temporary injunction of the Department of Homeland Security's new regulation regarding Social Security No-Match letters took place on Monday, Oct. 1, 2007 in San Francisco federal court. Judge Charles R. Breyer made his final ruling and issued a preliminary injunction preventing the government from enforcing the No-Match regulation.

Judge Breyer's Findings

In granting the motion filed by a consortium of labor unions and business groups, Judge Breyer found that the balance of harms tips sharply in their favor.
Judge Breyer recognized that the regulation would not only have 'massive ramifications' on how employers treat No-Match letters and impose a significant economic burden on employers, but there would be a 'strong likelihood' that it could lead to firings of employees who are actually authorized to work. Furthermore, the plaintiffs' claims raised serious issues including, but not limited to: whether the DHS rule conflicts with the statute; whether the rule is arbitrary and capricious; and whether the DHS and SSA exceeded their statutory authority.

As the court acknowledged, nothing in this preliminary injunction precludes the Social Security Agency from following its normal procedures and sending out No-Match letters without DHS guidance letters, as the agency has been doing for over a decade.