diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
index 015a28c9f..5a52a9d59 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-user
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ function deleteUser() {
 
   rolesTmpFile="${socRolesFile}.tmp"
   createFile "$rolesTmpFile" "$soUID" "$soGID"
-  grep -v "$id" "$socRolesFile" > "$rolesTmpFile"
+  grep -v "$identityId" "$socRolesFile" > "$rolesTmpFile"
   mv "$rolesTmpFile" "$socRolesFile"
 }