I just received a no-match letter for one of our employees. I seem to recall hearing about another HR manager who got in big trouble for mishandling one of these—can you fill me in? — Anonymous
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Employers who receive SSA no-match letters may consider letting employees simply provide new documentation of a changed name and social security number. That practice may be quite risky, as Donna Lake and her employer, Plastrglas, discovered a few months back.
On January 12, 2007, the United States Attorney and the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Service issued the following press release:
“On today’s date, Donna Lake and Plastrglas, Inc., entered guilty pleas to immigration violations before the Honorable Lyle E. Strom, Senior United States District Judge. Donna Lake entered a guilty plea to a charge of engaging in a pattern and practice of hiring and recruiting unauthorized aliens for employment in the United States. The charge carries a possible penalty of up to 6 months’ imprisonment, a $3,000 fine per unauthorized alien, a $50 special assessment, and up to five years probation. Plastrglas, Inc., an Omaha fabrication company, entered a guilty plea to concealing, harboring, or shielding from detection aliens knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact, that the aliens had entered or remained in the United States in violation of law. This charge carries up to a $500,000 fine and a $400 special assessment.”
The investigation of Plastrglas was initiated following a tip from a confidential informant that Omaha-based Plastrglas was involved in hiring and employing undocumented aliens. Based on that tip, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents placed a recording device on another confidential informant and sent that person into Plastrglas to speak to Donna Lake, Plastrglas’s HR director, regarding his status in the United States.
The informant, who had changed his Social Security number with Plastrglas once before, showed Lake a letter from the Social Security Administration saying that his current social security number was not valid. In the recorded conversation that followed, the informant asked Lake to change his social security number in the company records. Lake told him she could not because the law would not allow the number to be changed a third time. Lake explained that the company could be liable, as she knew the number was not accurate if it was changed again.
Lake asked the informant why he did not get a real social security number, and if he was afraid of going to immigration and being kicked out of the country. The informant said “yes.” Lake told the informant that she received letters like his frequently, and that she ignored them because Social Security could not make her answer the letters. Lake stated that she would pretend that their conversation had never happened, and that if the informant obtained legal status, he could come back and see her again.
On December 5, 2006, ICE agents executed criminal search warrants at Plastrglas, Inc., and arrested 30 undocumented aliens employed at the two locations. All 30 undocumented aliens were transported to the ICE processing and detention center. All were then processed and interviewed regarding their employment with Plastrglas, Inc.
Evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant on December 5, 2006 included a Social Security Administration letter dated April 21, 2006, and received by Plastrglas, Inc., on April 25, 2006. The letter was seized from Lake’s office. In the letter, the Social Security Administration listed 26 social security numbers that were reported by Plastrglas, Inc., as belonging to employees of the company. The letter indicated that the listed social security numbers and employee names did not match Social Security Administration records. Of the 30 undocumented workers arrested on December 5, 2006 by ICE agents, nine were listed by social security number on the April 21, 2006 letter from the Social Security Administration.
Further review by ICE of the records recovered in the search confirmed that as early as 1999, several Plastrglas, Inc., employees were hired under one name and social security number but, over the years, had changed their name, social security number, or both, and were allowed to continue working at Plastrglas, Inc. Donna Lake had been employed at Plastrglas since June of 1999.
There is no question that ICE has increased enforcement of the legal prohibitions against employing undocumented workers in the United States. Employers should be cognizant of this fact and carefully consider their response to SSA no-match letters. Allowing workers to simply present a new set of documents and change their names may lead to liability down the road, as Donna Lake recently discovered. Consider developing a procedure to use in response to the no-match letter.
Laura Innes is a partner with law firm of Simpson, Garrity, & Innes in South San Francisco.