No-match letters are making a comeback. Here’s what you need to know now.
The letters, which are sent by the Social Security Administration to employers after workers’ Social Security numbers don’t match up with federal records, have been in abeyance for a couple of years.
Now they’re back, with a couple of new wrinkles: The recipient isn’t required to respond, and the letter alone can’t be used as a rationale for taking an adverse action against an employee.
What are employers obligated to do if they receive a no-match letter? Here’s a checklist, courtesy of national law firm Fisher & Phillips:
- check your records to see if there is a discrepancy in the records submitted to SSA
- ask the employee to check his or her records to determine if the information was accurately recorded/reported
- instruct the employee to contact the SSA to resolve any discrepancy
- provide the employee a reasonable amount of time to resolve the discrepancy, and
- document your efforts to resolve the matter.
