Employers have new rules for what to do if they receive a "no-match" letter from the Social Security Administration (SSA). The new regulation, or no-match rule, issued by the Department of Homeland Security, will take effect Sept. 14.

No-match letters are triggered when an employer has employees whose names and Social Security numbers do not match what is provided on the employer's W-2 form. The SSA will be sending out no-match letters in September at a rate of 15,000 per week over a 10-week period. 

Employers who receive a no-match letter for tax year 2006 will also receive a letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) informing them of the steps which must be taken to avoid criminal and civil liability. Click here for a fact sheet outlining those steps.

"Be very careful not to take action against an employee without attempting to resolve the mismatches," says SAF's Jeanne Ramsay, senior director of government relations. A mismatch can be caused by several factors, including transcription errors and name changes that are not reported to SSA. Firing an employee because of a mismatch letter will put you at risk of violating the equal employment opportunity law, Ramsay says.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 

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