DHS Formally Proposes Rescission of No-Match Rule

In accordance with a July 8 announcement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally proposed a rule to rescind the so-called No-Match Rule first issued by the Bush Administration in 2007.  The proposed rule seeks to reinstate the language of the regulations as it existed prior to the effective date of the No-Match Rule.  Comments are due no later than September 18, 2009. The No-Match Rule, issued as a final rule in August 2007 and supplemented in October 2008, established a "safe-harbor" process for an employer to follow when receiving a "no-match letter" to avoid a finding that its receipt of such a letter gave it constructive knowledge of a worker's ineligibility to work in the U.S.  A "no-match letter" is a letter either from the Social Security Administration (SSA) informing an employer that employee Social Security Numbers submitted by the employer do not match SSA records or from DHS indicating a discrepancy calling into question an employee's work authorization.  The rule was never implemented, because a legal challenge brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, and others resulted in a preliminary injunction.  In the preamble to the newly proposed rule, DHS explains that rescinding the No-Match rule will "better achieve DHS's regulatory and enforcement goals" under the new Administration.  DHS further states that it has determined that improvements in the E-Verify system and other DHS programs "provide better tools for employers to reduce incidences of unauthorized employment and to better detect and deter the use of fraudulent identity documents by employees."  DHS has also "determined that focusing on the management practices of employers would be more efficacious than focusing on a single element of evidence within the totality of the circumstances." Guidance on immigration compliance is available in an MP3 download of a live educational session held at AGC's Annual HR Professionals Conference in June 2008.  An update will be provided at AGC's next HR Professionals Conference, which will take place October 27-29, in Atlanta, GA.  Click here for conference details and registration.  For additional resources and for information on immigration reform efforts, click here.