Travis County Commssioners Court
May 6, 2003
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Item 24
There is a quick item regarding employee identification we might be able to take. 24 is discuss implementation of employee identification numbers and take any appropriate action.
>> [inaudible].
>> what we wanted to do was discuss our plan with the court to stop using social security numbers on quite so many areas of our operations. As most of you all know, social security numbers have come under increasing scrutiny by the public at large as to where they are used and how often they are used and the availability of that. And the social security number along with your name and birth date has tended to be one of the golden keys to get any information about you that anyone could possibly want. Your bank has your social security number. All your people who have processed loans have your social security number. Your health insurance company has your social security number. It's pervasive in about every asct of your life. There are a number of bills in the legislative session which limit the use of the social security number, but california has already passed one that severely restricts the use of the social security number in most employer identification processes. In order to get ahead of this curve, we thought it would be a good point to go ahead and make that conversion for Travis County and assign employee i.d. Numbers we could use on paycheck stubs, time sheets, change of address forms, all those things that are just lying around people's offices, people have in their trash. It just starts or begins to restrict how easy it is to actually get ahold of that information. I have submitted copies of the agenda request to all the employee associations and no one has objected to this. I've talked with h.r. They are looking at their forms to see which forms can be changed from their perspective. We're looking at having this in place by the time we have open enrollment so the employees will be using their i.d. Number to access internet files for open enrollment. Again, it's just continuing that process of not making this number so available everywhere. It's absolutely embedded in just about everything we do and we really don't need it for all these operations. You have a copy of the letter we plan on sending to all the employees. We plan on sending this to their home with a copy to the department and they will have a copy in h.r. I'll be happy to entertain questions.
>> i'll be supportive.
>> makes sense to me.
>> I can move approval.
>> are we asking for approval of this today?
>> that would be fine andic go ahead and get the letters out next week.
>> we have a draft letter that basically said here's --
>> uh-huh.
>> there it is.
>> if there is anything you want to add to the letter, this is a payroll file so technically approval is not necessary. We'll just add this to the payroll file. But if there is anything you want to add to the letter, we can do that today.
>> what's the motion again?
>> I would move with our concurrence with the auditor's plan to switch to a new employee identification number that is not linked to somebody's social security number on all appropriate documents they deem necessary to do that on. Because I think it is --
>> use that new number on time sheets, rectify the receipts and open enrollment forms?
>> yes, sir.
>> as indicated in the memo?
>> yes, sir.
>> and is there a second?
>> second.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank very much.
>> thank you.
Last Modified: Wednesday, May 6, 2003 7:52 PM