Rehire with new social security number

Ruskanen

Does anyone have experience in hiring back an employee that had to change their social security number because they had been previously working under a false name and social? What did you do? Do you treat them as a rehire and report the changes made from the old name and number to the new name and number? Or, do you treat them as a totally new person?

Don D

I would treat them as a rehire. You're rehiring the person, not the number. Rehire is, after all, a designation intended for company use, not the government's, as far as I know. If your policies address tenure, leave accrual, training, benefits, orientation requirements or seniority in terms of total time with the company, you'll want to be sure to consistently follow those policies without regard to the fact that there was a SSN snafu.

Ruskanen

Would you recommend advising the IRS of the change from the old number to the new number or not making any correlation between the two numbers to the IRS? Is a company obligated to report the change?

Don D

I would be sure to place a memo-note in the I-9 file and personnel file fully explaining what had gone on. And I would be sure to inform the group insurance carrier and perhaps comp carrier just in case they see a need for that information. Otherwise, I don't think we have any obligation to help the employee or the IRS straighten out their books. If was a simple mistake on the employee's part, it will self-correct. If it was the fraudulent use of a fictitious identity or SSN, I wouldn't even consider re-hire.