Chicago Workers Protest Social Security Letters
'No-Match' Letters Have Some On Edge, In Trouble With Employers
CBS 10-11-07
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Rafael Romo
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO A government letter is at the center of a Social Security controversy for workers' rights, discrimination and illegal firings.
As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, Alexandra Camacho is a citizen of the United States, but last year she was in danger of losing her job after she received a government letter saying her Social Security number did not match her name.
"I think that a lot of people don't come forward and talk about the problems that they have because they may be scared," Camacho said. "They may be scared that the company will target them."
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_284185555.html
They are known as no-match letters and they simply indicate that there's an error in a person's Social Security number.
But workers' rights activists say some companies are using these letters to discriminate against and fire employees.
"If someone is Latino or an immigrant and the no-match letter comes in, the employer automatically suspects that the person may not be authorized to work," said Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers Collaborative.
Officials with the Social Security Administration say the letter doesn't make any statement about immigration status or employment eligibility.
Workers who receive the letter have 90 days to correct the information with the Social Security Administration.
"They're not an immigration enforcement tool," said workers' rights attorney Chris Williams.
Williams says the problem is that the Social Security database being used to generate the letters is riddled with errors.
He also says that citizens and immigrants alike may be affected by no-match letters.
"It will happen to Polish individuals, it will happen to Canadians, it will happen to any other ethnicity, white and otherwise," Williams said.
An independent audit reveals the files of about 17.5 million people have some sort of error in the Social Security Administration database; more than 12 million are citizens.
A federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Social Security Administration to stop sending the letters, but his ruling is only temporary.
There will be a rally Friday at the federal plaza starting at 12:30 p.m. to protest the no-match letters.
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