No-Match Letters part 2
No-Match Letters part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.
No-match letters are back. The no-match letters are sent from the Social Security Administration to employers letting them know that the information provided by the employee does not match information in their system and according to Mike Gempler with Washington Growers League many people in agriculture are getting these letters which could cause some serious problems.
GEMPLER: There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people in agriculture in the northwest who are key employees. Year-round employees or seasonal employees who are probably in that situation and in a way it’s like slow motion e-verify. If you don’t take that seriously and you just continue to employ an individual and you get multiple no-match letters on the same person, at some point if ICE does an investigation of your business, if there is a lawsuit - you’re going to be set up for a fall.
Knowingly employing illegal aliens is a criminal offense.
GEMPLER: Right now hundreds, thousands of employers around the northwest are getting these letters. Particularly in agriculture because as you know the U.S. Department of Labor’s estimate is that well over 50% of the people working in seasonal agriculture are using false documents so in agriculture we get a tremendous number of these letters and they’re coming now.
Gempler says that the letters have been triggered by tax reporting. Another change is that they are now sending one letter for each employee unlike in the past when several were reported in one letter. That can result in hundreds of letters for some larger employers. He says this is generating a lot of calls at the Growers League.
GEMPLER: What do we do? What are we supposed to do here? We’re having a webinar on May 16th sponsored by the Growers League with, I think, the preeminent expert on this - an attorney out of DC, Monty Lake, who’s been right at the center of immigration and agricultural labor issues for about 25 years. People are able to participate in the webinar for free if they’re a member or they can go to our website, growersleague.org and they can register.
Non members can also attend the webinar for a fee.
GEMPLER: In addition to written materials give employers an opportunity to hear from a true expert in this who’s involved in litigation with this kind of stuff and can give them practical advice and the chance for questions and answers.
That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. Just a reminder checkout BigIron.com as an option to sell farm equipment. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
