Employers use your personal data to figure out the lowest salary you'll accept

I worked for Equifax many moons ago. They had a problem with people taking jobs there that no one else wanted, solely to gain access to their systems and reset their own credit scores. And, for some reason, they couldn’t roll it back once found out. Great company.

I love that it's a freeze not a purge. And that it's opt-out to have surreptitiously collected data being used against your livelihood.

The data breach should have been reason enough to ban Equifax and force them to destroy their data. But that can only be done when the government works for the people, instead of money.

No they sell it directly: https://theworknumber.com/solutions/industries/pre-employmen...

The Work Number is in fact Equifax.

The "best" part of the "The Work Number" is your employer can opt you in without any notification. The last time I worked for someone else's company, I specifically asked before I started if they shared my salary info with any credit agencies. The HR rep: "No we do not!" Guess what? They, or likely their payroll provider (ADP?) did.

I am now a partner in a consultancy. Despite my prior comments, we have still not yet gotten off Gusto. Pasted from a July 2024 e-mail Gusto sent me:

  We are making updates to our Payroll Terms of Service to address relevant laws and regulations and include information about new products and features, including our new employment and income verification feature. The updated terms will go into effect for current customers on July 31, 2024. 

  You can review the full updated terms here.

  The new employment and income verification feature

  When your employees apply for loans, credit cards, or public aid they may be required to provide proof of employment and income and, as the employer, you often need to manually provide verifications during the approval process. With this update, you can save time and help your employees get faster access by automating employment and income verifications through our new partnership with The Work Number®. 

  No action is needed from you. This benefit is included in your current Gusto payroll subscription and there are no additional fees. As the employer, you can choose to turn off this new feature in the Settings tab at any time. The feature will be available on July 31, 2024. Learn more >

  Thank you for choosing Gusto!

So my team, none of whom were ever explicitly asked for their consent to share their salary info, were about to have Gusto helpfully share it for them. Thanks Gusto!

I (angrily) opted my company out, but I'm probably the only partner in the company who would have gone out of their way to do that.

As a European, it is wild to see a private company warning that disallowing them the ability to process your personal data might hinder your ability to access social services.

I hate that I have to opt out of this stuff that I never signed up for and never would have. I filed the request to freeze, and see that it will require me uploading many more pieces of data to prove identity and address. Disgusting.

The thing about this is that there still exist clauses in employment contracts requiring pay secrecy by employees.

So, theoretically some employees have a requirement upon them to fill this in.

Thank you for the link. I tried to opt out. They sent me this email:

Equifax Workforce Solutions (provider of The Work Number) has received your employee request communication, but additional information described below is required to fulfill this request.

We will be following up with a secure email to obtain the below requested documents:

Proof of Identity:

Provide a copy of one of the following (must include current/legal name):

- Driver's License (must be current) - Paystubs (must be dated within 60 days) - State or Government Identification Card (must be current) - Social Security Card - Military Identification Card - Passport (must be issued from U.S.A. and be current) - W-2 or 1099 Form (most current year) - Birth Certificate

Proof of Address:

If you are requesting an Employment Data Report (EDR) or selected ‘Mail’ as your preferred method of contact,provide a copy of one of the following (must include current mailing address and be issued within the past 60 days)

- Driver's License (must be current) - Paystub - W-2 or 1099 Form (most current year) - Utility Bill (phone, water, gas, electric, trash or sewer, etc.) - Housing Rental Agreement or Mortgage document - your name must be listed on the document

For Identity Theft Block Requests, along with Proof of Identity and Proof of Address (if applicable), please provide your identity theft report and designation of items to be blocked:

- Identity Theft Report (police report, FTC Identity Theft Report, Police report, or United States Postal Inspection Service)

For Human Trafficking Victim Block Requests ONLY, along with Proof of Identity and Proof of Address (if applicable), please provide victim determination documentation (as described below), and designation of items to be blocked.

Victim Determination Documentation:

Provide a copy of one of the following victim determination documentation confirming that you were a victim of human trafficking, such as:

- Determinations made by federal, state, tribal, or local governments, government agencies, or law enforcement - Determinations by non-governmental entities or task forces authorized by a governmental agency to make such a determination - Self-attestation signed or certified by such governmental agency or non-governmental entity - Determination by court in a case where a central issue is whether you are a victim of human trafficking. (Court documents can be made up of several documents from the court case that together show that the court accepted as true or finding no genuine dispute that you were a victim of human trafficking.)

We will be following up with a secure email to obtain the requested documents.

Data Investigation Team Equifax Workforce Solutions

I'm filling out the form there. I genuinely don't know why I would ever generate a salary key so I can let someone know how much money I made.

Also, to prevent them from sharing the information, you need to give them even more information. Disgusting that this is allowed.

> Job Applications > Employers may delay making a job offer if they cannot verify your data on The Work Number.

If by doing this, can employers legally discriminate against you?

An old neighbor of mine was a headhunter. He once told me that some companies had a trick to get around the law. Upon getting hired, you'd sign a document saying that you'd agree to all policies in the employee handbook. Pretty standard stuff. One of the company policies was that you needed to prove any previous salary you stated in the negotiation. If it was too far off, they'd just terminate you. The trick is that they didn't ask at all during the hiring process; you're already hired and onboarded and then HR puts a meeting on your calendar to explain the policy to you.

"don't ever lie about your past compensation" — because they can't figure it out on their own and IF they do (at least in my jurisdiction), you've got a nice case on your hands to sue them for violating privacy laws.

The correct answer is: ALWAYS lie about your past compensation. It's the only way to get forward, one way or the other.

I'm skeptical. Credit checks don't give you an accurate picture of your compensation and it's not like they get your transactional banking history or tax documents (yet). Even with that it would be impossible to get an accurate compensation figure within 25%, so while I agree there's an informational imbalance if that's how you're negotiating you've already lost.