About two years ago Social Security, under the leadership of Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, revived the practice for the agency to send “no match” letters to employers when they discovered that their employees had some sort of discrepancy with the employee’s W-2 records. The move was opposed by several members of Congress who wrote a letter to Saul indicating the move could have unintended consequences.
On the surface the decision to send employers “no match” letters might seem reasonable when there is an issue with a Social Security number and earnings, but it led, according to some members of congress, to the firing of U.S. citizens and work-authorized immigrants who had a right to work in the United States.
It took almost two years before the agency has reversed the practice and again will no longer be sending these “no match” letters. In a news release from U.S. Rep. Richard Neal the following joint statement was authored by Neal, U.S. Rep. John Larson and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell.
“We welcome SSA’s announcement that it will stop the harmful practice of sending no-match letters to employers with certain discrepancies in their W-2 records. Two years ago, we strongly condemned SSA’s decision to send these letters out in the first place because they disproportionately imperil immigrants and threaten workers’ privacy. No-match letters have been shown to be wholly ineffective in correcting wage records and are not a cost-effective use of SSA’s limited resources. Today, we reiterate that the agency is prohibited by law from using its funds for any purpose other than administering Social Security, such as immigration enforcement. While we are glad to see SSA finally do the right thing and stop sending these letters, it is unfortunate that SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul chose to send these harmful letters for two years, inflicting significant harm on many affected workers.”
