After Boston-Area Tatte Workers Forced To Resign Over Paperwork Gaps, Experts See Larger Problem

Tatte Bakery and Cafe forced roughly 60 Boston-area workers to resign last fall after discrepancies in their paperwork cast doubt on their legal authorization to work in the U.S. — a move which advocates say could foreshadow a crackdown on undocumented workers under the Trump administration.

Large scale terminations due to undocumented status appear rare in the Boston area. Yet the incident at Tatte revealed how tensions have been heightened within local healthcare and food service industries, which heavily rely on undocumented workers, amid pledges from the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration.

A company that knowingly employs undocumented workers is committing a crime under federal law, which forbids companies to offer employment to “an alien knowing the alien is an unauthorized alien.”

“There are entire industries in this country that have been built on the system of having wide access to immigrant labor,” said Shannon E. Liss-Riordan ’90, an employment lawyer in Massachusetts.

“It’s going to come back to haunt many of these industries who are not going to be able to continue in the way they have if they don’t have access to this large supply of labor,” added Liss-Riordan, a former Crimson editor.

In a statement, Tatte said that repeated discrepancies raised by the Internal Revenue Service in the terminated employees’ social security records forced their hand.

“While supporting our employees is a priority, we must comply with the law,” Tatte spokesperson Diana C. Pisciotta wrote in a statement, calling it “disheartening” to “inform valued, hard-working members of our team that by law they cannot remain with Tatte if they cannot correct the issue.”

The company provided affected workers with the chance to consult an immigration attorney at Tatte’s expense after the termination. Pisciotta added that Tatte offers all employees of over two years who meet some weekly hours requirements with up to $4,000 in financial support for immigration-related expenses.

In a statement, Leslie T. Ditrani, an immigration lawyer and the founder of the nonprofit Pathway for Immigrant Workers, defended the company’s decision.

“Tatte faced a difficult situation,” Ditrani wrote in a statement. “Immigration and Customs Enforcement could determine that the company has violated the law by employing undocumented workers.”

When the IRS identifies a discrepancy in identification in an employee’s paperwork, a “no-match” letter is then sent to their employer by the Social Security Administration. Such letters are not unusual, and “can also just occur due to bureaucratic errors” according to Liss-Riordan, including typos.

While employees have the opportunity to fix such errors in the system after they’re flagged, repeated no-match letters may indicate something more than an error — like false documents used by someone who lacks authorization to work.

Liss-Riordan pointed out that even workers with legal employment authorization could face more scrutiny if the federal government cracks down on undocumented employees, because of such errors.

“A lot of people can get caught up in this problem who actually are legally qualified to work in the U.S.,” she said.

Ditrani said the tension is exacerbated by an insufficient supply of workers nationally.

“Across the country, most states, including Massachusetts, are experiencing moderate to severe worker shortages,” Ditrani said. “When the government makes it harder for employers to hire the workforce needed to sustain and grow the economy, everyone loses.”

A report last year by the U.S Chamber of Commerce found that Massachusetts had just 42 available workers for every 100 jobs open, labeling its worker shortage “most severe.”

Amid a heightened federal focus on prosecuting undocumented immigrants, both Liss-Riordan and Ditrani said such crackdowns could have serious consequences for both affected workers and the local economy that depends on them.

“There can be really terrible effects from driving workers further underground who are doing their jobs, supporting their families, contributing to our society, who are in living fear of what may happen,” Liss-Riordan said.

—Staff writer Stephanie Dragoi can be reached at stephanie.dragoi@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Thamini Vijeyasingam can be reached at thamini.vijeyasingam@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @vijeyasingam.