Employers try hard to avoid hiring illegal workers. But are there times when trying too hard can violate the law? Read the facts of this real-life case and decide: Who won?

The facts:

The company received “no-match letters” — notice from the Social Security Administration that the social security number provided by an employee doesn’t match the number in the SSA database — for a group of union workers. The employees were given three days to get a new SS card with the correct number or prove that an application for a new card had been mailed. The employees who didn’t complete the task in time were fired. They sued, claiming the terminations violated their collective bargaining agreement.

The employer said:

The firings were justified because the letters — and the employees’ failure to apply for new cards in time — gave the company reason to believe the employees weren’t authorized to work in the U.S.

Who won the case?

Answer: The employees.

Why: “No match letters” aren’t always sent because an illegal worker’s using a phony SSN. Often, human error is to blame, the judge said.

Also, the court ruled giving the employees just three days to correct the discrepancy was unreasonable and violated the CBA. New rules proposed by the Department of Homeland Security last year, for example, would have given employees a full 90 days to correct SSN discrepancies.

Cite: Aramark Facility Services v. Service Employees International Union Local, 1877

Tags: Department of Homeland Security, DHS, no-match letters, Social Security Administration, social security numbers, SSA