No-Match Letters Are Coming Back—Are you Ready?

The Social Security Administration has announced that it will resume sending "no-match" letters to employers starting in 2019. [The SSA stopped sending "no-match" letters back in 2012.]

What is a "no-match" letter? It is a written notice issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to an employer, usually in response to an employee wage report, advising that the name or Social Security number (SSN) reported by the employer for one or more employees does not "match" a name or SSN combination reflected in SSA's records. The letter cautions employers against taking any adverse employment action against a referenced employee based solely on receipt of the letter, and explicitly states that the letter makes no statement about the referenced employee's immigration status. Rather, the letter simply reports an apparent error in either the employer's records or SSA's records, and seeks the employer's and, if necessary, the employee's assistance in conforming those records.

What action should an employer take upon receipt of an SSA no-match letter or other notice of a no-match? To confirm that a reporting or input error is not the cause of a no-match, an employer, with the assistance of the referenced employee, should confirm that the name and SSN reported accurately reflects the referenced employee's name and SSN. If no error is discovered, the employer should then advise the referenced employee to contact the local SSA office to address the reported no-match. An employer should not use the no-match letter or other no match notice by itself as the reason for taking any adverse employment action against the referenced employee. In addition, employers should not use the receipt of a no-match letter or other no-match notice (or the fact that an employee raises any objection to the employer's no-match response procedures) as a basis to either retaliate against the employee or otherwise subject the employee to heightened scrutiny. Doing so may violate the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), or other state or Federal equal employment opportunity or labor laws. While not required to do so, an employer may schedule (and document) periodic meetings or other communications with the employee during the resolution period to keep abreast of the employee's efforts to resolve the no-match, and to determine whether the employee needs more time to resolve the no-match than initially contemplated.

Employers should not jump to conclusions when they receive these letters. If an employee's name and SSN don't match SSA's records, this does not necessarily mean the employee is not authorized to work. There are many possible reasons for a no-match letter, many of which have nothing to do with an individual's immigration status or work authorization. Because of this, an employer should not assume that an employee referenced in a no-match letter is not work authorized and should not take adverse action against the referenced employee based on that assumption. Such action could subject the employer to liability for discrimination under the antidiscrimination provision of INA. When in doubt, consult with counsel.