IDENTITY THEFT
POTATO
44 Posts
I just received a phone call from a person in another state who filed his taxes for the first time this year. He received a letter from the IRS telling him that he had worked for OUR company and needed to report those wages as well. He believes he is the victim of identity theft. The name we reported is slightly different than his and of course he didn't work for us. I really limited my conversation with him, did not give him any information regarding this "other" person, I just listened and sympathized. I explained that I have NOT received any notification from either the IRS nor the SS Admin. regarding this situation and I would be unable to answer any questions and that for me, HE could be the imposter. I told him that if he wanted to fax me over the documenation he received, I would take a look at it but would probably NOT be able to do anything.
NOW WHAT??? Has anyone encountered this situation? What are my obligations? The employee still works here and has for a few years. At the time of his hire, his identification seemed legitimate...I just don't know what to do now that I know all of this (and what exactly do I know)? I feel a "morale" obligation to look into this but not being "officially" notified of any problem, what are my legal requirements? I am waiting to receiving a copy of the notifications he received. I am little curious about OUR information that was given him and by whom. He was given our company name and an address but no phone number. How nervous should I be???
NOW WHAT??? Has anyone encountered this situation? What are my obligations? The employee still works here and has for a few years. At the time of his hire, his identification seemed legitimate...I just don't know what to do now that I know all of this (and what exactly do I know)? I feel a "morale" obligation to look into this but not being "officially" notified of any problem, what are my legal requirements? I am waiting to receiving a copy of the notifications he received. I am little curious about OUR information that was given him and by whom. He was given our company name and an address but no phone number. How nervous should I be???
Comments
As an after thought, how long has this employee been with you? Did you do a background check on him?
Keep us posted, Potato.
This person received a letter from the IRS stating that he worked for my Company in 1995-1996 and that he did not report his wages for those years. He claims that he did not work here and wants me to provide him with a letter stating that he was never employed by my company. I told him that I could not write this letter because (1) I did not hold this HR position during 95' and 96' and never knew the "other" person using his ssn, so I cannot verify either way (2) the employee file was destroyed per our record retention policy, and (3) How do I know that he is who he claims to be - the real person holding the ssn? I told him that he should start to resolve this problem with the Social Security Administration or the IRS. I provided him with the local SSA office and wished him good luck.
My situation is different than yours - I don't have an employee with a valid/invalid ssn, currently working. My suggestion to you is to leave it alone and to not hold any more conversations with this person claiming "identity theft". How do you know if it isn't just some malicious act? How would you know if the document faxed to you is legitimate? I have many Hispanic employees. I have heard so many times from angry individuals "________is illegal", false paperwork, etc.
If you complied with the I9 regs and checked the documentation provided to you by your employee at the time of hire, then you have fulfilled your obligation as the employer. You should not act on some anonymous phone call and start checking out your employee's identity. You could be eventually faced with discrimination, especially if you let the employee go. I would not do anything if I were you unless I received something from the IRS or SSA, or government agency.
I would also tell this person to get some legal help in getting this situation resolved. He/she might even be able to go to an HR Block for assistance!
Good luck!
E Wart
I know legally we just have to verify employment eligibility and complete the I-9, right? We're not required to keep copies of the actual identification documents....
(p.2) For the purpose of satisfying the employment eligibility verification requirements, an employer cannot request that an employee present more or different documents than are required. Also an employer cannot refuse to honor documents which on their face reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting them.
(p.9) If an investigation reveals that an employer has knowingly hired or knowingly continued to employ an unauthorized alien, or has failed to comply with the employment eligibility verification requirements . . . the INS may take action.
Neither of these specifically address your question, VS, but I'd say the p.9 part tells me that if I suspect a problem, I need to check it out, and that could include re-verifying the ID used at time of hire. Since I keep a copy, I would probably look at that first, but if I didn't take one, I might ask to see it again.
That said, I think you are handling this correctly, Potato. I can see why you're nervous, but I think you're doing the right thing. (Just be consistent in the future!)
PORK
While I agree with everyone else who's posted so far that you have no responsibility to the person who contacted you...and none to advise your current EE about the situation, you do have a responsibility to your employer.
If I found myself in this situation, I think I would at least verify the current EE on the SSA/BSO website if I hadn't already done so (I just recently signed up for this service, so EE's hired before my account was activated have not been verified). It could be something as innocent as a clerical error at IRS or SSA. But if someone is working for us under fraudulent name/SSN, I'd want to know about it.
If your EE's SSN doesn't check out, or if the caller does FAX you the docs, or both, I would suggest contacting someone in SSA and referring the matter to them: it's their responsibility to investigate/resolve the matter, not yours. In other circumstances, I'd leave it to the EE to resolve the matter w/ the SSA, which is the correct procedure. But, since you've been contacted w/ a claim (of so far unknown validity) of ID theft, you have some additional reason to at least report the whole picture to the SSA so that they can investigate it, if that's appropriate.
I have spoken with the owner of our company and will be taking the next course of action with my employee unless someone great and wise from this forum thinks it would be a mistake:
we are requesting that our employee produce the SS Card used to gain employment, for our review. Should that card still bare the false information, we will inform our employee that in accordance with our strict policy of providing fraudulant information to gain employment, we are placing this employee on "probation" BECAUSE it has come to our attention that the SSN he showed us for verification of employment may contain fraudulant information and the possible error MUST be corrected by the SSA before he can return to work. This "probation" means that he may NOT return to work unless he can provide proof of ownership of the SSN he provided us. His position will be available to him should he be able to clarify this situation within 1 week, however if he is unable to provide proof of ownership or proof of the course of action he has taken to clear this matter with the SSA, we will terminate his employment.
We decided to allow this employee a "chance" to clear this up JUST IN CASE there is some kind of weird cosmic mistake. We chose NOT to tell him exactly what is wrong with the card - we want HIM to find out what is wrong with his card and report back to us.
AND in a twist of unbelievable irony, when I logged in my SSN to verify my employees SSN - MY SSN did not match my name!!! Apparently when I changed my name when I married (15 years ago), the person who changed my last name decided they didn't like how my first name was spelled - so I had to go down and fix my card!! How weird is this!!! I have received very high level government security clearances and NO ONE caught the error!!
So my scenerio confirms WHY we really want to give this employee a chance to prove an error was made BUT we don't want to continue to allow him to perpetrate a fraud should that be the case either.
Does our action seem appropriate, legal and fair? I really don't enjoy this job some days.......
Your actions so far, and plans for going fwd, sound perfectly appropriate to me.
It's between your current EE and the SSA now to resolve this-- let them resolve it.
E Wart
If your employee is a U.S. Citizen then you might choose to verify the data and then to let the individual know of the conversation you had and let your employee have time to go to the SSA and right the wrong if there is one. SSA will help him or her get the IRS also involved to write this wrong.
Be careful it might just be a scam!
PORK