No match delayed by SSA

From the United Fresh Produce Association comes word of a delay in the dreaded "no match letters." From United:




SSA Won’t Issue “No-Match” Letters in 2007

This week the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that the agency will forgo issuing no-match letters to employers this year because of the pending lawsuit challenging the Homeland Security Department’s (DHS) worksite enforcement regulations. United Fresh, along with American Nursery & Landscape Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several other associations, are parties to the lawsuit, which was filed in California in August 2007.
On Oct. 10, a federal judge in California granted a preliminary injunction barring SSA from sending out the no-match letters because it is being argued that the DHS did not follow proper procedures under the Administrative Procedures Act before threatening possible criminal and civil liability for employers that failed to respond to the letters. Under the Act, DHS is required to first analyze the impact of its regulations on businesses.
SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle stated that the SSA will not issue any employer no-match letters during 2007. However, SSA indicated that it will resume the issuance of no-match letters in 2008 and focus on wage reporting for 2007.
United Fresh will continue to track the administration’s actions and analyze the impact that they could have on produce businesses. For additional information regarding the SSA and DHS’s policy regarding “no-match” letters, visit the SSA website.