I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 137 

To require an employer to take action after receiving official notice that 

an individual’s Social Security account number does not match the individual’s name, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. GALLEGLY (for himself, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. MCCAUL, 

and Mr. BILBRAY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways 

and Means and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require an employer to take action after receiving official 

notice that an individual’s Social Security account number does not match the individual’s name, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employment Eligibility 

5 Verification and Anti-Identity Theft Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING AGENCIES TO SEND ‘‘NO-MATCH’’ LET2 TERS. 

3 (a) SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.—The Com4 missioner of the Social Security Administration shall send 

5 a written notice to a person or entity each time that the 

6 combination of name and Social Security account number 

7 submitted by the person or entity for an individual does 

8 not match Social Security Administration records. 

9 (b) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—The 

10 Secretary of Homeland Security shall send a written no11 tice to a person or entity each time that such Secretary 

12 determines that an immigration status document or em13 ployment authorization document presented or referenced 

14 by an individual during the process of completing the at15 testations required by the person or entity for employment 

16 eligibility verification was assigned to another person, or 

17 that there is no agency record that the document was as18 signed to any person. 

19 SEC. 3. REQUIRING EMPLOYERS TO TAKE ACTION UPON 

20 RECEIPT OF A ‘‘NO-MATCH’’ LETTER. 

21 Beginning on the date that is 6 months after the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, a person or entity that has 

23 received a written notice under section 2 shall, within 3 

24 business days of receiving such notice, verify the individ25 ual’s employment authorization and identity through the 

26 verification system established under section 4. 


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1 SEC. 4. VERIFICATION SYSTEM. 

2 Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in con4 sultation with the Commissioner of the Social Security Ad5 ministration, as appropriate, shall establish and admin6 ister a verification system through which persons or enti7 ties that have received written notice under section 2 shall 

8 verify an individual’s employment authorization and iden9 tity. 

10 SEC. 5. DESIGN AND OPERATION OF SYSTEM. 

11 The verification system established under section 4 

12 shall be designed and operated— 

13 (1) to maximize its reliability and ease of use, 

14 consistent with insulating and protecting the privacy 

15 and security of the underlying information; 

16 (2) to respond to all required inquiries under 

17 this Act regarding whether individuals are author18 ized to be employed and to register all times when 

19 such inquiries are not received; 

20 (3) with appropriate administrative, technical, 

21 and physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized dis22 closure of personal information; and 

23 (4) to have reasonable safeguards against the 

24 system’s resulting in unlawful discriminatory prac25 tices based on national origin or citizenship status, 

26 including— 


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1 (A) the selective or unauthorized use of the 

2 system to verify eligibility; 

3 (B) the use of the system prior to an offer 

4 of employment; or 

5 (C) the exclusion of certain individuals 

6 from consideration for employment as a result 

7 of a perceived likelihood that additional 

8 verification will be required, beyond what is re9 quired for most job applicants. 

10 SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF TIME. 

11 If a person or entity in good faith attempts to make 

12 an inquiry during the time period specified and the 

13 verification system established under section 4 has reg14 istered that not all inquiries were received during such 

15 time, the person or entity may make an inquiry on the 

16 first subsequent working day in which the verification sys17 tem registers that it has received all inquiries. If the 

18 verification system cannot receive inquiries at all times 

19 during a day, the person or entity merely has to assert 

20 that the entity attempted to make the inquiry on that day 

21 for the previous sentence to apply to such an inquiry, and 

22 does not have to provide any additional proof concerning 

23 such inquiry. 


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1 SEC. 7. RETENTION OF PROOF OF VERIFICATION COMPLE2 TION. 

3 After completion of the verification process estab4 lished under section 4, a person or entity shall retain a 

5 paper, microfiche, microfilm, or electronic version of the 

6 form received through the verification process (or, in the 

7 case of a telephonic verification, a paper, microfiche, 

8 microfilm, or electronic record of the telephonic 

9 verification code number) and make it available for inspec10 tion by officers of the Department of Homeland Security, 

11 the Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Em12 ployment Practices, or the Department of Labor for 3 

13 years after the date on which the form or telephonic 

14 verification code number was received. 

15 SEC. 8. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT. 

16 (a) BURDEN ON INDIVIDUAL TO RESOLVE ER17 RORS.—If a person or entity has received an initial 

18 nonverification regarding an individual from the 

19 verification system established under section 4, the person 

20 or entity shall notify the individual in writing within 1 

21 business day of such receipt. In such notice, the person 

22 or entity shall advise the individual that the burden is on 

23 the individual to resolve any error in the verification mech24 anism not later than 30 days after the date on which the 

25 notice is issued. Such notice shall also state that the per26 son or entity shall be required to verify once again the 


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1 individual’s employment authorization and identity 

2 through the verification system established under section 

3 4, and to terminate any employment in the United States, 

4 and any recruitment, hiring, or referral for employment 

5 in the United States, of the individual, if a final 

6 nonverification is received. 

7 (b) ADDITIONAL VERIFICATION.—A person or entity 

8 that has issued a notice under subsection (a) shall, within 

9 33 business days of such issuance, verify once again the 

10 individual’s employment authorization and identity 

11 through the verification system established under section 

12 4. Sections 6 and 7 shall apply to such final verification 

13 in the same manner as such sections applied to the initial 

14 verification. 

15 SEC. 9. FINAL VERIFICATION. 

16 (a) Within 7 days of receiving final nonverification 

17 for an individual, the person or entity issued a notice 

18 under section 8(a) of this Act shall provide the Commis19 sioner of Social Security with a copy of such individual’s 

20 verification form as described in section 274A(b)(3) of the 

21 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(b)(3)) 

22 in addition to any other information regarding the last 

23 known name, address, and location of such individual. 


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1 (b) Within 3 business days of receiving such notifica2 tion, the Commissioner of Social Security shall provide 

3 such information to the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

4 SEC. 10. EMPLOYER VIOLATIONS. 

5 A person or entity shall be considered to have violated 

6 section 274A(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality 

7 Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)(1)(A)) if the person or entity— 

8 (1) continues to employ in the United States, or 

9 recruits, hires, or refers for employment in the 

10 United States, an individual after receiving a final 

11 nonverification regarding an individual from the 

12 verification system established under section 4; or 

13 (2) otherwise fails to take an action required 

14 under this Act. 

15 SEC. 11. REQUIREMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN PILOT PRO16 GRAM. 

17 Section 402(e)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform 

18 and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 

19 1324a note) is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(C) Any person or entity that, in a cal22 endar year, receives written notice under section 

23 2 of this Act with respect to more than 20 indi24 viduals, shall elect to participate in the basic 

25 pilot program described in section 403(a) and 


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1 shall comply with the terms and conditions of 

2 such election.’’. 

3 SEC. 12. LIMITATION ON USE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law, nothing in this Act shall be construed to per6 mit or allow any department, bureau, or other agency of 

7 the United States Government to utilize any information, 

8 data base, or other records assembled under this Act for 

9 any other purpose other than as provided for under this 

10 Act. 

11 (b) NO NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD.—Nothing 

12 in this Act shall be construed to authorize, directly or indi13 rectly, the issuance or use of national identification cards 

14 or the establishment of a national identification card. 

15 SEC. 13. FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS ACT REMEDY. 

16 If an individual alleges that the individual would not 

17 have been dismissed from a job but for an error of the 

18 verification mechanism, the individual may seek com19 pensation only through the mechanism of chapter 171 of 

20 title 28, United States Code (popularly known as the Fed21 eral Tort Claims Act), and injunctive relief to correct such 

22 error. No class action may be brought under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 14. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY FOR ACTIONS 

2 TAKEN ON THE BASIS OF INFORMATION. 

3 No person or entity shall be civilly or criminally liable 

4 for any action taken in good faith reliance on information 

5 provided through the employment eligibility verification 

6 mechanism established under this Act. 

Æ 


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