Returned Mail

TLCTX

Just wondering what everyone else does for returned mail items, like the w-2's I am currently getting back. I also have 401k quarterly earning statements that come back.

Thanks for the help -

 

HR Mouse

I had the same problem with a W-2. It was sent to the last known address the company has for him so I went on-line & did a Google search for him in the town, then in the county, then in the state - unfortunately his name was not so original so there were a lot of "hits". I called all of the ones I could get phone numbers for to no avail.  So I held onto it. Low and behold he called me 2 days ago wondering where his W-2 was! I got his new address, made a photo copy of the original envelope (with the "Unable to Forward - Return to Sender" stickers from the Post Office still on there) and stuck it in a new envelope before sending it to his correct address. That way he could see the original postmark & our attempt to get it to him - and the photocopy is my proof of that.

 I say just sit on them & they might come crawling out of the woodwork come April 15th!

TXHRGuy

We have a fair amount of turnover due to our industry.  We also use a lot of student labor.  We always have returned W-2s.  The employer's only obligation appears to be to send it to the address of record.  We sit on them after that because most everyone does call up and the vast majority pick it up although we mail it (again) if that's what they need and we update their address in our system.

HRforME

I am assuming these are not current employees.  If they are, I would contact them and ask for a corrected address.

We file w-2s in the employee's personnel file until such time as they call looking for them. Sometimes, they never do!

I would be more worried actually about the 401k statements than the w-2s. Because if they are getting a 401k statement, then they still have some type of owed balance.  I know that the Social Security Administration has a way to lookup addresses for "lost" 401k participants. You would need to ask your 401k administrator about the process. They should know exactly how to do it.

After I started at this job, I had a participant call and ask about receiving a distribution from a 401k plan that I had never heard of. There were no records that I ever found on this plan, but it did exist and and he did have money in it. He hadn't worked at our company for more than 8 years and the plan had been transferred more than 5 years before he called.  I am not sure why his money stayed with the old 401k plan provider rather than transferring, but it did!  The only reason I knew who to call at the administrator was that there were participant statements in the archived employee files!  But at some point either he got the address corrected or they just stopped sending them because they were getting returned.

I would never assume for either purpose that an address found on a search engine is correct. Especially with the abundance of similar names.  The only way we will change an address is either through the SS/recordkeeper method or the employee putting it in writing.

TLCTX

Thanks for the help - the oddest thing to me about your reply is that you state our 401k Administrator should be able to help with the returned mail issue, but they are the ones that return them to me for me to figure out what to do with them! Wouldn't it seem easier for them to deal with it as it comes in?

I will contact them and see what they know of. Thanks again for all the responses!

HRforME

I can understand the administrator passing them to you if they are current and active employees, i.e. people you should be able to reach to get a current address. But if they are terminated with a balance, that is where I would ask the administrator to look into the SS verification system.