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Court Blocks Government From Implementing Flawed Social Security No-Match Rule
SAN FRANCISCO – After a hearing today, a federal judge stopped the government from improperly using social security records for immigration enforcement, ensuring that U.S. citizens and legal residents will not lose their jobs because of errors in the Social Security Administration (SSA) database. The order prevents any implementation -- until the court makes a final ruling after trial -- of a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule punishing employers if they do not take action after receiving social security “no match” letters. “This is a significant step towards overturning this unlawful rule, which would give employers an even stronger union busting tool,” said John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO. “More than 70% of SSA discrepancies refer to U.S. citizens,” “But the DHS regulation would encourage employers to fire any worker based on these erroneous discrepancies, especially if she has an accent or is perceived to be foreign born.” Today’s preliminary injunction comes as a result of a lawsuit filed in August by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County along with other local labor movements. In the lawsuit, the groups charge that the misguided rule violates the law and workers' rights, imposes burdensome obligations on employers, and will cause discrimination against workers who are perceived to be immigrants. The district court had temporarily halted the DHS rule shortly after the lawsuit was filed and blocked the government from sending notices of the new regulation to approximately 140,000 employers across the country. Several other labor and business groups joined in the lawsuit to challenge the rule. The new ruling extends that prohibition indefinitely until the court issues a final decision in the case after trial For years the SSA has sent “no match” letters to employers if the name and social security information reported by a worker on a W-2 form does not match up with the information contained in SSA databases. The “no match” letters were never considered reason to believe that an employee did not have permission to work in the U.S, and currently employers who receive "no-match" letters are not required to take any action. In fact, there are many innocent reasons for such discrepancies such as clerical mistakes, name changes due to marriage and divorce, and the use of multiple surnames that are common in many parts of the world. “The judge saw the need to fully examine the wisdom of placing employees’ jobs in jeopardy because of the mess in our social security database, which is rife with errors," said Scott Kronland of Altshuler Berzon LLP, who argued at today’s hearing. Under the new DHS rule, employers receiving “no match” letters might be required to fire employees whose SSA discrepancies are not resolved within 90 days after the "no-match" letter is received. If the employer does not respond to a “no-match” letter, DHS may conclude that the employer had “constructive knowledge” that an employee was not authorized to work in the U.S. and prosecute the employer accordingly. “The rule is an illegal effort by the Bush Administration to hijack the social security system for immigration enforcement. That has never been allowed and will cause chaos and discrimination for millions of workers and businesses across the country,” said Lucas Guttentag, Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and one of the lawyers in the case “This decision is a stinging rebuke to the Bush Administration’s misguided and illegal policy for so-called immigration enforcement that should be abandoned. Instead of punishing citizens and legal workers the Administration should dedicate itself to enforcing the workplace wage and safety rights of all workers.” "We are pleased that the judge saw the need to stop this rule that would lead to increased exploitation and discrimination of workers,” added Marielena Hincapié, Staff Attorney and Director of Programs at NILC. “Although DHS wants to use the no-match letters as an immigration enforcement tool, the DHS regulation would do little to decrease undocumented immigration. Instead, it will fuel the growth of off-the-books hiring by employers who would prefer to skip W-2 forms and instead pay employees with cash and as a result, sidestep basic workers’ protections. The no-match letters will simply serve to undermine all workers’ labor rights.” Today's order was handed down in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
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