Forged identity documents are indeed quite common.
The Soc. Security Administration verifies the name/number match against their own records. The name and SSN do not match, the employer is issued a “no-match letter.” If they fail to rectify the situation, they are in trouble, because hiring an undocumented worker is a crime.
Wanna read an interesting article? Sure ya do.
The “No-Match” Letter Rule: A Mismatch Between The Department Of Homeland Security And Social Security Administration In Worksite Immigration Law Enforcement (PDF)
Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal, Vol. 25 (Fall 2007)
Principally, they will have a shiny new SSN with absolutely no connection to their past contributions. All the past contribution will be lost entirely, unless they feel like telling the authorities that they were employed illegally, thus negating any legal status they have acquired, putting themselves immediately into deportation proceedings, and getting manditorily barred from the U.S. for 10 years.
There is the e-Verify system, which is supposed to tell employers if an employee is authorized to work. It is a mostly volunteer program, although I believe companies that work on Federal contracts are required to use it.
Of course, the two biggest problems (according to the article linked to above) is that there are errors. 18 million errors. And two, the check is supposed to be done after a person is hired, but many employers run it before-hand and then simply don’t hire someone who comes back as unathorized or in process (and that could be a result of a spelling error). Many employers have a problem with making its use mandatory, citing these problems. And of course, it’s not cheap to maintain and I have no idea how difficult it is for errors to be corrected.
I actually read it. Yay me!
Interesting article. It was like a short story…things got worse but then they got better but there were some gotchas at the end. Looks like the big problem is that there’s too many acronyms involved (SSN, SSA, IRS, INS, DHS, DOJ to name a few).
Seriously tho, looks like accountability crosses too many federal agency lines and no one can take full responsibility or, in some cases, one agency can’t report to the other agencies.
Former SSA employee here. If someone acquires a valid, legal SSN and can verify that wages/contributions earned under another number actually belong to them, those contributions can be legally transferred to the new number. Unless there has been recent changes in procedures (which is possible) SSA does not automatically report this to any other government agency. Of course, this does not preclude other agencies from requesting information on suspected illegal activities from SSA.
Likely, they have the same restrictions that the IRS does- my Bro sez that it is illegal for an IRS auditor to pass on the information that a Taxpayer under audit is an illegal alien.
I’m probably misunderstanding you, Foxy, but it’s not true that more than one form of identification is needed for the I-9. You can use just one form of ID, so long as it’s one of the ones listed under column A (like a passport). For the last few jobs I’ve had, I’ve produced only my passport, that’s it. It’s only when you don’t have any of the documentation listed under column A that you need two forms of documentation, namely those from columns B and C.
Based on your knowledge and experience, do you believe that a great number of people who paid in using an illegal/fake/dead guy SSN ever attempt to recoup their withheld pay?