Social Security Administration Discontinued No-Match Letters

Last year, the Social Security Administration announced that it would discontinue the practice of sending “no-match” letters. These letters, also known as EDCOR notifications, served to alert employers that an individual employee’s W-2 form does not match the SSA’s records. A no-match letter does not mean that an employee was working without proper work authorization. The discrepancy could be for a variety of reasons, including administrative error or identity theft, but served to put the employer on notice that there could be an issue with the employee’s work authorization. Receipt of the letter created an affirmative duty on the part of the employer to investigate why a discrepancy existed. However, employers could not use a no-match letter to take adverse action against an employee or they risked charges of discrimination.

The controversial practice of sending no-match letters dates to 1993, and initially ran until 2012 when it was suspended under the Obama Administration. In 2019, the program was revived and hundreds of thousands of employers received these notifications. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was paused, but letters resumed in late 2020. In 2021, the program was officially discontinued.

If you have any questions about your work authorization or your responsibilities as an employer, please call Minsky, McCormick & Hallagan at (312) 427-6163 to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced immigration attorneys.