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When you apply for a software job in the US and go through a background check, most of your former employments are verified through The Work Number. As an emplo
by ventana 1mo ago
When you apply for a software job in the US and go through a background check, most of your former employments are verified through The Work Number. As an employee, I'm not aware of a way to opt out of this data collection, and I assume if there is a way, it will surely make the future background check harder.
Now that they allow to look at your personal report, I went ahead, registered and requested a copy. This is just wow.
First of all, I noticed that American Express casually requests my report a few times per year. Well, I guess, if I lose my job, they will know soon! Besides Amex, the only other requests were the background checks when I actually applied for jobs, so everything else is fine.
But you know what else is there? All my fucking paychecks for all companies I used to work for here in the US. Nowhere in my employment agreements I did explicitly agree to my paycheck information to be transferred to Equifax, and yet, here we go.
Looking forward for the moment when all this data is leaked, because, you know, Equifax has some history [1].
[1]: https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/refunds/equifax-data-breach-settlement https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/refunds/equifax-data-breach-...
- lotsofpulp 1mo ago>Nowhere in my employment agreements I did explicitly agree to my paycheck information to be transferred to Equifax, and yet, here we go. Nowhere in US law does it say your employer has to keep any of that information private.
- ventana 1mo agoSure, not all good laws are given. Must take a good public campaign or maybe a big leak for the law like that to appear. I would think California will be one of the first states to adopt a law like that, similar to how they now forbid to ask about your current salary when interviewing you for a job [1]. [1]: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB168 https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml...
- lotsofpulp 1mo agoI am a fan of Norways laws to make all tax returns public. Transparency is the best disinfectant. Plus, now that job listings have to show pay range in many states (including California), it’s not too difficult to now figure out a likely annual payrate for someone.
- b112 1mo agoReally? Anf if they took your paystubs, and posted them online? No problems? Nary a one? Why is Equifax special?
- jimz 1mo agoBecause they kind of did what you described and the reason the data never surfaced is either because it's too valuable or too worthless
- pjc50 1mo agoTrue. It's very funny how many employers will prevent employees discussing pay and then leak all the pay information to the panopticon.
- mwill 1mo agoFunnily enough, if you go to the FAQ, under the heading "Can I opt out of having my information on The Work Number?" it straight up starts with "No.", full stop and all.
- tuesdaynight 1mo agoTo be honest, at least they are not lying to you. Most big tech companies do the same and lie about it.
- Barbing 1mo agoDear Equifax, Add to my report that I said: You suuuuckkk!
- eru 1mo agoInteresting, it looks like you can only get your own data, if you have an American postal address. So if you moved abroad (or never lived there), you can not get your data, even if they have it.
- thaumasiotes 1mo agoThere are mail-receiving companies that you can use. You can easily get your data if all you need is an American postal address.
- eru 1mo agoI'm sure there are ways around this. I'm not an American, and I was just trying to figure out whether they have data on me, because I used to work for American companies in the past.
- ventana 1mo agoThe main question is whether you have SSN or not. If you worked for American companies from abroad, you probably filed W-8BEN and were considered a non-US person for all tax purposes, had no TIN and nothing was reported on you to Equifax or other credit reporting companies (e.g. Transunion or Experian). If you filed W-9 as US person, you gave them a TIN, which in the majority of employment related cases is your SSN, and then they most likely reported your employment to Equifax.
- birdsongs 1mo agoReason number xxx that I never plan to return permanently. The longer I'm away the more bonkers things seem there.
- eru 1mo agoOh, the form also expect you to have a US social security number and US mobile number.