The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has published a final rule that establishes safe harbor procedures for organizations that receive Social Security Administration (SSA) mismatch letters from the DHS that an employee isn’t authorized to work.  Each year the SSA reviews W-2s to validate names and SS numbers and sends “no match” letters as appropriate. The final rule allows an employer who gets a mismatch letter 30 days to review its data to see if a mistake has been made.  If the mistake isn’t fixed then the employer must notify the employee who has 90 days to fix the problem. A new I-9 form must be completed. If an employer follows the DHS procedures it will be found to be in a “safe harbor” and won’t be considered to have known that the employee didn’t have proper work authorization.  More details are available at the DHS website at www.dhs.gov.  The full text of the rule is available at: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/ice_safeharbor_no-match_finalrule_2007-08.pdf    Note that the timeframes changed are different in the final rule (from the proposed rule). Mismatch letters for 2007 will be sent next spring, so you have a little time to become familiar with the final rule.