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SOCIAL SECURITY Office of Communications November 16, 2010 Ms. Mara Keisling Executive Director National Center for Transgender Equality 1325 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 2005 Dear Ms. Keisling: Thank you for your inquiry about the use of gender information within our Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). SSNVS is a free service that allows registered employers and certain third-party submitters to verii~y the names and Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of employees against Social Security Administration (SSA) records for wage reporting purposes. SSA can only post wages correctly when employers and submitters report employee wages under the correct name and SSN. Accurate earnings information is vitally important to the administration of our Social Security program because an employee’s earnings record is the basis for computing retirement, survivors, and disability benefits. As we discussed, gender is an optional field in the SSNVS. We regret that there has been some confusion over this optional field in SSNVS. We take the concerns you have raised very seriously, and we are considering removal of this optional gender field from SSNVS. Until these changes can be made to SSNVS, you may suggest that an employer not enter the optional gender field. We also want to reiterate the employer’s responsibilities related to the proper use of SSNVS as outlined in the SSNVS Handbook found at http: www.ssa.gov employer ssnvs_handbk.htm This handbook states that the gender field is optional when using SSNVS. In addition, a failure of the information to match SSA’s records is not a basis, in and of itself, for employers to take any adverse action against an employee, such as laying off, suspending, firing, or discriminating. An employer that uses the failure of the information to match SSA’s records to take inappropriate adverse action against an employee may violate State or Federal law. If an employer has further questions about the use of SSNVS, the employer can contact our Employer Reporting Assistance service, at: • 1-800-772-6270 (toll free), Monday Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, or • E-mail: emp1oyerinfo(~issa.gov, or • TDD/TYY call 1-800-201-7165 (toll free). —
Please let me know if you have any additional questions or if we can be of further assistance. Sincerely,
Aviva Sufian Associate Commissioner of External Affairs (410) 966-7996 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
BALTIMORE, MD 2 1235-0001