Records for New Hires
Records for newly hired railroad employees are established from the annual reports of service and compensation. Thus, it is important that the social security numbers (SSN) and names under which the employees' service and compensation are reported are correct.
A current employee may appear to be a new hire if the employee is reported under an incorrect SSN. Because the incorrect SSN will not match an existing Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) record, a new record will be established for the incorrect SSN. That error is detected and corrected only after investigation with Social Security Administration (SSA) and the employer and, possibly, the employee. An incorrect SSN initiates a time-consuming and costly process that is avoidable when an employer verifies that the SSNs on a report are correct.
The RRB requests employers to verify the SSN of their new hires to help prevent records from being established under incorrect numbers. Employers are expected to review the Social Security Card of new hires. If the new hire does not have a social security number or does not have a copy of their card, have the new hire file Form SS-5, Application for Social Security Number Card, with SSA. To prevent transcription or keying errors, match the SSNs in your current report of service and compensation to the previous report. Verify that all SSNs that do not match the previous report are new hires.
SSA Employee Verification Service (EVS)
It is the employer's responsibility to obtain correct SSNs from all employees of their organization. SSA has developed a free Employee Verification Service (EVS) that will match your record of employee names and SSNs with SSA's records before you prepare and submit your service and compensation reports. There are several methods you can choose from to take advantage of this easy to use system:
| To verify up to 5 names/SSN's |
Call their toll-free-number (800) 772-6270 |
| To verify up to 50 names/SSN's |
Submit a paper listing to you local Social Security Office |
| To verify over 50 names/SSN's |
Mail or fax a completed registration form and privacy statement to SSA. |
Contact SSA at (800) 772-6270, to receive more information about this service.
New Records
The RRB will establish and verify a new record as follows:
- RRB establishes a new employee record when a service and compensation report is received containing a SSN that does not match an existing record. At this point, the new record is incomplete as it contains only the first five letters of the surname.
- RRB sends new records to SSA annually for a match with SSA records. New RRB records which match SSA records are considered as verified and the full surname from SSA's record is posted to RRB's records along with employee's gender and date of birth.
- New RRB records which do not match SSA records produce referrals to employers for reconciliation. The new RRB record will remain unverified with only a five-letter surname until either RRB or SSA changes their records and a match occurs. See Part VII, Chapter 2.