Employee ID numbers: Be careful
August 4, 2008 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Compensation, Compliance, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Your system of identifying employees for benefits and pay purposes can be an invitation for trouble.
It wasn’t too long ago that many employers used employees’ Social Security numbers on benefits forms or other identification purposes. Even if you’ve already changed this dangerous practice in your organization, be sure you check on any third parties you work with.
Your organization can even end up paying the price for someone else’s mistake.
Example: A year ago, the Chicago public school system got sued because it’s third-party benefits administrator mailed info containing people’s Social Security numbers when advising employees about their retiree health benefits. Anyone could see the recipient’s name and Social Security number, making identity-theft and other personal-info abuses easy.
The Chicago school system also ran into trouble when laptops containing employees’ Social Security numbers got stolen, potentially putting tens of thousands of employees’ identities at risk.
Bottom line: If your organization hasn’t switched to a safer identification system, it should be a top priority for future plan years.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
What should we use to identify our employees? I am interested in finding out what other organizations and companies use.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:13 am
We use a sequential employee number assigned at hire. Our People Soft HRIS system assigns the number. Our healthcare vendors assign a randomly generated alternate ID number to be used instead of ssn.
August 8th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
We use a 4-digit # that we assign at the time of hire. We can manually enter a number or let our accunting/timekeeping program assign the #. We manually enter the #’s. Out health care insurer assigns a # they generate and do not use the ssn. If we change providers and they want to use the ssn, we will request that they find another alternate means of identifying the employees on their insurance cards and in their records system. You have the right to request that your ssn # not be used for identification in these instances even if the company you work for does not request this as a blanket policy for the organization.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
While I am less than thrilled that our company uses SS# for insurance purposes, etc, I am also unhappy to have the last 4 digits of the SS# used for everything from the password on our PTO balance (which is handled by several clerks) to password for our phone system to track long distance calls. Since the bank uses last 4 of SS# for my “security” for phoned in inquiries, anyone with access to direct deposit information also has access to info about my banking. Cell phone company is the same way. Last 4 digits are just as dangerous to have floating around as the entire number.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:52 am
We use first and last initials and 001, 002, 003, etc as needed to assure unique identifiers. Example: JF002
August 11th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
We use a number consisting of part of our company name plus the last four of the SSN, unless there is a duplicate last four. Then, I assign another number. These numbers are used internally for those whose services to clients are billable. The insurance company uses a different ID number on the insurance cards, but we do enter the SSN on the enrollment forms. We shred anything containing identifying info of staff or clients.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
We used to use the last four of the SSN, but duplicates cause problems, especially when you’re looking for a specific person and assume that the ID was keyed from the SSN when it wasn’t. We changed a few years ago to a six digit number, the first two digits identify the company/state the employee is working in and the last four are assigned sequentially. Enough of our employees have become sensitive to the use of SSNs that the transition was handled with only the normal glitches. Because the old numbering system was four digits and the new one was six, it was easy to tell when someone had given us an old number. It took less than a month for most supervisors to make the switch … one supervisor refused to change for a few months, but his supervisor finally solved that problem. Upper management definitely needs to support the transition and strongly encourage their staff to make the switch.
Nanette – do you assign a new identification number if someone’s name changes?