Social Security Administration Is Issuing Letters to Employees

Posted on May 15, 2008

On April 3, 2008 the Social Security Administration began sending letters to employees whose name and Social Security Number did not match in the Social Security database. At first glance, this was puzzling. The letters appeared to be a clear violation of an injunction issued by a federal court which prevented the Department of Homeland Security from sending letters to employers which changed the Social Security No Match implications. Previously, the SSNM letters specifically stated that the SSNM letter did not have implications as to whether or not the worker was authorized. The DHS letters would state that receipt of a Social Security No-Match letter to be constructive knowledge that a worker is unauthorized unless the employer follows the proper safe harbor procedures.

The safe harbor procedure is outlined below:

1. The employer must check its records within 30 days to ensure that the mismatch was not the result of an error on the part of the employer;

2. If this does not resolve the problem, the employer must ask the employee to confirm the accuracy of the employer’s records;

3. If necessary, the employer should ask the employee to resolve the issue with the Social Security Administration within 90 days of receiving the letter;

4. If the employer was able to successfully resolve the mismatch, the employer must be sure that the employer has followed all of the instructions in the SSA letter. The employer should also verify that the correction has been made by using the Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS) administered by SSA, and retain a record of the date and time of the employer’s verification. SSNVS can be accessed through http://www/ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm or by telephone at 1-800-772-6270; and

5. If not resolved within 90 days of receipt of the letter, the employer should complete, within three days, a new I-9 Form as if the employee in question were newly hired. All documents to show the employee has employment authorization must contain a photograph. No document to show employment authorization can contain the questionable Social Security Number.

Upon further review, the SSA is not issuing Social Security No-Match letters to employers, only to employees. It is purely for employees to correct errors in Social Security wage reporting. According to an SSA Fact Sheet, SSA is not issuing No-Match letters to employers for 2007 until the litigation is settled.