When individuals’ W-2 wages or self-employment earnings are placed in the Earnings
Suspense File (ESF), SSA sends DECOR correspondence to the individual trying to secure
his or her correct SSN and name. (However, if an employee’s W-2 either has no employee
address or has an address that isn’t in the Postal Services’ database, SSA instead
sends a DECOR letter to their employer.)
NOTE: Effective August 23, 2012, we suspended all DÉCOR letters because of budgetary reasons.