Meg Whitman ‘Stunned’ Her Housekeeper Was Undocumented — Was the SSA and IRS Stunned Too?

This post first appeared on Daily Kos.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman says that she was “stunned” when she learned that her longtime housekeeper, Nicandra Diaz, was an undocumented worker:

Speaking to reporters after a campaign event at Cisco in San Jose, Whitman said she and her husband were “stunned” when they discovered their housekeeper was in the country illegally. She denied receiving letters from the IRS or Social Security Administration saying that Nicandra Diaz’s name did not match her Social Security number. Whitman said she and her husband relied on an employment agency and inspected Diaz’s documentation personally.

“All the documentation that we had said she was legal. …We absolutely did what we needed to do as an employer.”

Did she? According to a spokeswoman at the Social Security Administration, all employers are required to verify Social Security numbers before hiring someone, and that it “has been the case for ten years or longer.” Further, the Internal Revenue Service requires employers to use Social Security numbers to report wages.

Didn’t either of these agencies inform Whitman when she “absolutely” did what she needed to do as an employer?