A company which received a letter from the Social Security Administration indicating that 48 employees did not match the information in SSA’s database did not have just cause to terminate 33 of the workers when they did not timely comply with the company’s requirement to get new social security cards, the Ninth Circuit holds.

The Service Employees International Union had filed a grievance on behalf of the fired workers, contending the terminations breached the collective bargaining agreement. An arbitrator ruled for SEIU and awarded the fired workers back-pay and reinstatement, finding there was no convincing information that any of the fired workers were undocumented. A federal district court vacated the award, ruling that it violated public policy.

The Ninth Circuit says the case boils down to whether the company was put on constructive notice by the no-match letter, and the employee responses, that it was employing undocumented workers. If so, then the arbitrator’s award would force the company to violate federal law and would be properly vacated as against public policy, the Court says. However, the Court goes on to state that “an SSN discrepancy does not automatically mean that an employee is undocumented or lacks proper work authorization.”

“In addition to misuse by undocumented workers, SSN mismatches could generate a no-match letter for many reasons, including typographical errors, name changes, compound last names prevalent in immigrant communities, and inaccurate or incomplete employer records,” the Court says in reversing the district court and ordering it to confirm the arbitration decision. Aramark Facility Services v. SEIU Lo. 1877