Did 15,000 Con Ed W-2 Forms Really Just Go Up In Smoke?

Sometimes we think that Con Ed is just pretending to be incompetent to keep us on our toes. We mean, did they really manage to lose 15,000 Con Edison employees W-2 forms?

In preparation for its taxes the utility was supposed to send two cartridge tapes containing all of its tax information in a package to JP Morgan Chase in Binghamton. But the Post is reporting that by March 10 it became clear there was a slight problem. Though Con Ed was "reasonably certain" and "very confident" both tapes had been sent, JPMorgan Chase only seemed to have a tape containing the 1099 withholding-tax information. The tape with the W-2 data (Social Security numbers, addresses, taxes paid and salaries of every employee) just wasn't anywhere to be found ("The department conducted a vigorous and exhaustive investigation that proved inconclusive.").

To ease employee concerns Con Ed is offering to pay for a "year's worth of credit-watch services for each employee." Which is nice, but why are we supposed to believe Con Ed when it insists that the tape was in the mail when they never believe us when we swear that we put that check in the mail months ago?

Who wants to bet they never even sent those forms over?

Steamy ConEd Truck from Daryoush's flickr stream.