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Does Your Employer Still Use SSNs?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the not-likely-to-change-any-time-soon dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "My company, a fairly large telco, still uses social security numbers for non-financial purposes; mostly for our IT ticketing system. I find it amazing that in these times, with how easy it is to use an SSN to obtain credit, that any company still does this. I've heard talk for almost eight years that the practice is going to be stopped but little progress has been made. How many companies out there still use SSNs so openly? Since it seems that nobody is in a hurry to solve this issue, what can be done to speed the process up?"

5 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Thought it was actually illegal by kbob88 · · Score: 3, Informative
    I used to work in the IT department of a managed care company in the early 90s, and seem to remember something about it actually being illegal to use the Social Security Number for any other purpose (than running Social Security and the IRS). Of course, we (and every else in healthcare) still used it as a primary numbering/identification scheme. Not sure if the illegality was true or not.

    From the Social Security Administration:
    • "[Makes] misuse of the SSN for any purpose a violation of the Social Security Act"
    • "Unlawful disclosure or compelling disclosure of the SSN of any person a felony, punishable by fine and/or imprisonment."
  2. Re:You think you have it bad? by parasonic · · Score: 3, Informative

    How about the law that you shall not be identified by your SSN?

    How about the law that you shall not be required to give more than the last four digits of your SSN?

    No wonder there are "305 lawsuits" per average company per year...

  3. Re:You think you have it bad? by BandwidthHog · · Score: 3, Informative

    Neither of those laws you mentioned actually exist.

    A business can ask for an SSN when you attempt to buy a nine volt battery with exact change. Perfectly legal. You can, of course, refuse such a ridiculous request. Also quite legal. They can then decline to do business with you. Just as legal.

    It’s only the government folks that are prohibited by law from demanding SSNs.

    --

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
  4. Re:SSN by RexRhino · · Score: 4, Informative

    Only the government, state or law-enforcement officials may "demand" your Social Security Number.

    Completly false. Employers are REQUIRED BY LAW to take your social security number to handle SS deductions. Banks and credit card companies are REQUIRED BY LAW to retain your social security number in order to do financial reporting (so the IRS can check and make sure you aren't spending more than your reported earnings). Gun shops are REQUIRED BY LAW to take your social security number as part of criminal background checks. There are a whole slew of situations where, not only can a company ask you for your SSN, but they are required to take your SSN!

    Visa can not demand you give it to them.

    Visa IS REQUIRED BY LAW to take your social security number, or a tax ID number if it is a corporation, as part of their financial reporting requirments.

    Private schools by law, can not demand you forfeit such information.

    Private schools BY LAW ARE REQUIRED to take your SS number if the private school accepts federal government loans or grants for students.

    Don't try to obscure the blame that the government bears for your SSN being your ID number. Aside from the fact that they have made legislation making SSN the de-facto ID number (Real ID Act), it was the government that decided that you would have one single number that would follow you for the rest of your life as your unique identity (as opposed to the system they used for passports, where your passport is given a unique ID, but that number will change over the course of your life... your passport is assigned a number, not the person)

  5. i'm a victim by feld · · Score: 3, Informative

    i live in WI and someone in Milwaukee (with many, many previous addresses) is reporting my SS. I have no idea how or where they are reporting it, but they're in the database with my #. They have never used it for financial things yet, though, so my credit is fine. I reported this to the cops several times but they won't do anything about it because they arent using it for credit related things. This pisses me off to no end.

    I have the original SS card in its original envelope from 2 months after I was born.

    I had a hard time explaining things to employers when I was a teenager because they'd do checks of some sort and find this other guy's name.... notably Radio Shack and Menards (Like Home Depot) were the main ones causing problems over it.