Maybe we all have.
A couple weeks back, I posted about the uniform clothing company Cintas suspending employment for any and all employees who couldn’t provide verifiable employment info in California.
Folks stopping by here hailed Cintas and I said I was proud to be wearing their products at my place of employ.
I’m still proud to wear their clothes. But I now need to find a way to write about how I want to help a certain governmental offical pull his head out of his ass without sounding like I want to hang him from a lamp post.
A Mississippi Democrat in line to become chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee has warned the nation’s largest uniform supplier it faces criminal charges if it follows a White House proposal to recheck workers with mismatched Social Security numbers and fire those who cannot resolve the discrepancy in 60 days.
Rep. Bennie Thompson said in a letter to Cintas Corp. it could be charged with “illegal activities in violation of state and federal law” if any of its 32,000 employees are terminated because they gave incorrect Social Security numbers to be hired.
“I am deeply troubled by Cintas’ recent policy change regarding the Social Security Administration’s ‘no match’ letters,” Mr. Thompson said in the Nov. 2 letter. “It is my understanding that hundreds of Cintas’ immigrant workers have received these letters. I am extremely concerned about any potentially discriminatory actions targeting this community.”
Because having millions of people who cannot take it upon themselves to care enough to gain proper legal status here isn’t a homeland security risk to this guy.
Here’s the question:
I thought that it was illegal to use Social Security numbers for identification? Isn’t that why most states have gotten away from SSN’s on Driver’s Licenses? We recently had a court case here in Virginia where the courts ruled that an employer CANNOT deny employment because the employee refused to divulge his SSN on employment applications.
I agree that employers should be encouraged to not hire/terminate the employment of those who cannot demonstrate citizenship, but using SSNs to do it is, according to my understanding of the law, illegal.
Personally, I’m willing to accept a certain level of risk in order to make government infringements upon liberty more difficult. There are other means than SSNs to determine whether someone is in the country legally or not.