SS# pre-hiring used for earning history: state of FL

[Mac291]

Various websites, including freeadvice.com, affirm in many states it is legal to ask for a SS# when applying for a job, such as online. In other words when you first fill out info for an application.

All seem to say the job seeker can decline to provide that number (although you may therefore not be considered). Further along the hiring process is another story. Using that number to check if you ever worked for the company previously: is another story.

I am hearing that companies use this number to check when you were working and for whom. I'm specifically interested in whether companies can use your SS# to research your SS contributions - i.e. when you were in the typical workforce. As a self-employed person you may or may not be paying into SS.

It seems to me a DL could be used to check for criminality. Here in FL many legit companies ask for SS# stating it is used in a background check. I believe they may use it to verify what you claim as previous employers and dates of employment. This seems heavy-handed so early in the screening process and an invasion of privacy. My SS contributions should be private.


Thank you,

Mac

 

[FlyingRon]

We certainly CAN'T start allowing you to work without the SS#. I can't legally employ you without it.

The SSA will not provide your earning history to an employer. You need not worry about that.

It *IS* quite likely that it will be used in credit/background checks. Your employer should have told you that background checks are a possibility. There's nothing you can really do about that. We are allowed to do our due diligence (and for publicly traded companies and those with certain government contracts, we are obliged to).

 

[cbg]

I am hearing that companies use this number to check when you were working and for whom.

You hear a lot of things on the Internet. Not all of them are true.

I'm specifically interested in whether companies can use your SS# to research your SS contributions - i.e. when you were in the typical workforce.

No. And why would they care, anyway? If they want an accurate history of your earnings, there are much easier ways of getting it than that.