No-Match Controversy

No-Match Controversy. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Seems like we have been here before. The Social Security Department is once again issuing no-match letters to employers. Mike Gempler, the Executive Director of the Washington Growers League gives us some background.

GEMPLER: It’s something that has been around for about 15 years in one form or another. And there weren’t any no-match letters sent out in 2009/2010 but they are back on it so that’s generating a tremendous number of calls and people are trying to figure out what to do.

Gempler says that Social Security seems to be going backward on this subject.

GEMPLER: This is actually more of a rerun because the new improved version was the one that was done in 2007/2008 which was the result of new Department of Homeland Security regulations where Homeland Security actually had a role in the no-match letters. And there was Homeland Security regulations pertaining to the no-match letters and Homeland Security language on the no-match letters that came from Social Security that stated that employers had to take certain steps, follow certain procedure in order to demonstrate that they didn’t have so-called constructive knowledge that somebody was working there illegally.

That was rescinded in 2009 by the Obama administration and there were not any no-match letters for a couple of years.

GEMPLER: Now they’re starting again and we’re basically back to the days pre-2007 when the letters set up employers in essentially what is a risk management decision. Because if you get a no-match letter on an employee who’s still employed and they are given a reasonable period of time, say 2 months all the way up to 4 months to come back with new information. Then you can’t check that electronically, you can’t confirm their new information, it’s actually against the law to do that. So you wait and year and if you get another no-match on that same individual with their new information that they gave you, what do you do? It’s a risk management decision. It seem that they’re probably giving you false information.

Gempler says that really your only recourse at that point is to fire them. We’ll talk more tomorrow with Mike Gempler on the no-match issue.   Remember BigIron.com’s auctions every second an fourth Wednesday.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.