It’s Back!

What’s back?

The “no-match” letters from Social Security, you know the letter to your employer telling that there is a problem with W-2 and Social Security information.

Resumption of Social Security No-Match Letters Raises the Stakes for Employers
National Law Review
May 15, 2019

After a seven-year hiatus, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has resumed the practice of sending no-match letters (officially called Employer Correction Request notices). These letters notify employers when the SSA has found a discrepancy between SSA records and the information provided on the employer’s W-2 form. The letters request that employers provide corrected name and Social Security information so that the SSA can reconcile the employer’s wage reports and properly credit the employee’s earnings to his or her Social Security records. (See a sample letter here.) While this request may sound simple enough, it is fraught with potential pitfalls.

Employers receiving no-match letters must not only make an effort to resolve the issues identified by the SSA, but they must also exercise care when doing so in order to avoid violating the antidiscrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

And of course the Democrats are speaking out against the practice.

Democrats blast return of 'no-match' letters
The Hill
By Rafael Bernal
May 2,  2019

House Democrats are protesting a directive from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to resume the practice of sending so-called no-match letters that alert employers to irregularities with their employees' Social Security numbers (SSN).

According to the New York Times the courts found it illegal to send out the letters…

The government officially suspended the use of no-match letters in 2012, although the practice had actually been discontinued years earlier, after the government faced litigation. The resumption appears to be a response to the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order signed by President Trump to protect American workers and reduce illegal immigration.
[…]
But the American Civil Liberties Union, United States Chamber of Commerce, unions and trade groups won a lawsuit later that year that claimed the policy could lead to discrimination against or termination of native-born American workers and legal immigrant workers. The suit also claimed that the regulation would pose a heavy burden on employers.

The latest letters appear to avoid the legal pitfalls identified in the earlier litigation because, unlike those drafted under the Bush program, the current letters do not threaten employers with enforcement action or penalties.

According to reports by the SSA inspector general and the Government Accountability Office, the no-match letters also proved to be ineffective at weeding out undocumented workers.

What does this have to do with trans?

Many people do not know what a paper nightmare a trans person has to go through, trans people who were born in states where you cannot change your documentation so your birth certificate might say male but your IDs might say female with a different name. To change your Social Security information you need a letter from a doctor and that cost money and if you don’t have medical insurance it might be more than you can afford.

Now once again the government in their zealous attempt to round undocumented immigrants will be outing trans people.