Although the Dept. of Homeland Security had asked a federal district court to lift its preliminary injunction on the department’s controversial no-match regulation, the court has adopted a briefing schedule proposed by plaintiffs that will leave the case unresolved until at least March 2009, according to a Bureau of National Affairs report.

The original rule proposed in June 2006 requires employers to follow up and resolve discrepancies after receiving a “no match letter” from the Social Security Administration about mismatches in name and social security number of a worker in employer reports and what is contained in the SSA’s database, or after receiving a “notice of suspect document” from DHS. If the discrepancy was not resolved, employers would be required to terminate individuals or face liability for employing unauthorized aliens. The final rule was published in August 2007 setting out safe harbor procedures for employers, but the rule was enjoined by federal court at the request of union and employer groups.