To me, the requirement to see the SS card itself is not so much about identification (proving you are who you say you are), it’s about verification (proving your SSN is what you say it is).
I don’t think I’ve ever, once, had to show my actual SS card for employment. Or possibly even a Federal security clearance (although in that case I’m sure they checked it out against the SSA database along with the other half-billion things they checked out about me). Even when the HR manager at my first immigration law firm job told me to bring in my driver’s license and Social Security card to fill out the I-9 (which is an unlawful overdocumentation request, by the way, and she got chewed out for it later), I knew it was just shorthand for “bring I-9 documents” and brought my U.S. passport instead.
Possible conclusion!
I brought my paperwork today and handed over my passport. He did come out of the office at some point and request my driver’s license, and I said “well, the passport is a “List A” document, so you shouldn’t need it”, ::reaches for wallet::, he said that he had to have two forms, so I gave him my DL anyway and explained to him how that form works. He said he’s never had anyone use a passport as ID before.
Not a word breathed about the SS card, so I don’t plan on ever bringing it up. We’ll see if I get my paycheck Monday 
As someone said above, sounds like you got an internal form checker and not someone really thinking for himself. Hope it works out.
Ah. He did give me my entire file to take home and fill out, including a blank job application (which I ignored), since I had used a resume in the first place. I just had been concerned about the specificity of that sheet of paper in there. But that makes sense that it could have been for him to look at.
The actual process of replacing a social security card is really pretty painless. There is an office near me, so I just went on line, filled out the forms, printed them, and took them down. There wasn’t much of a line and it took all of 10 minutes. New card came in the mail a few weeks later.
I just did the same, though the “few weeks” issue could bite me since my new employer says all required documentation is due today.
I want to salute the Dope for having such a timely discussion of this issue. I logged in this morning for the first time in a few weeks specifically to search for “social security card,” because for the first time in all of my 55 years an employer wants to see the actual card. I’ve kept it in a folder and actually saw it at some point in the last couple of years, but I’ve moved a few times recently and can’t lay my hands on it.
From the discussion here my conclusion is that the HR organization that’s hiring me is “special,” and not in a good way.
If you become injured, ill, or elderly you will be asked for your SS card regularly and frequently, so keep it where you can find it. (I never needed it for employment.)
The card is not to be used for identification. The number** is **used for ID
There’s a difference.
This was my last day at work so I asked out H/R person about this thread as I was doing my final papers, she said, she never heard of anything like that. She said when filling your I-9 the employer is forbidden to ask for specific documents from the list. You can provide any choose.
But I googled around and it seems a lot of jobs specifically ask for the card itself, but those jobs all seem to be related to schools and government agencies.
I know the government often makes laws forbidding something to private industry while exempting themselves.
Not so. I have been through cancer treatments (twice), numerous assorted injuries, and an unrelated hospitalization, and never been asked for my Social Security card. In fact, I’ve never been asked for it at all, and I’m 53 years old.
As AndyLee and I have both pointed out, the number is used for ID. The card, no.
Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not even sure I’ve even seen my Social Security card.
My life ended up requiring a trip to the SSA office anyway - my SS# failed to verify in whatever online verification system they use, so I got to take a letter down there to investigate.
Turns out the inept manager had reversed my first and last names when submitting the request. :rolleyes:
Weird other happening, though: the SSA guy was asking me some identity verification questions, and I didn’t know my father’s name. Turns out, he was able to just tell me. Mom never did, for some reason.
–chaoticbear, bastard child
Did anyone else actually read what Eva Luna said? The I-9 form (the one your employer is filling out when they ask for your SSN) clearly states that requiring to see an employee’s Social Security card is illegal.
Are you sure? The text on the form says “Employers CANNOT specify which document(s) they will accept from an employee.” But isn’t that referring exclusively to supporting documentation for the I-9?
Surely it doesn’t mean that in general, employers can’t require documentation of other things for other purposes.
My employer’s requirement to see the card isn’t in conjunction with the I-9. It’s stupid, but independently so.
IANAL, nor am I an expert, as Eva Luna apparently is. But I understand from the I-9 and Eva’s post that asking for the Social Security card isn’t a criminal act, but rather one that opens them up to a lawsuit by an individual or a government agency for acting in a discriminatory manner against a protected class (in this clase legal residents with the right to work but who are not US citizens and who don’t have a Social Security card). Since chaoticbear doesn’t appear to be a member of the protected class, I don’t know if he could sue personally, but a government agency certainly could.
Again, IANAL, but I understand that for other types of discrimination, asking for an employee’s marital status or religion isn’t illegal, per se, but it puts the company in the position of basically having to prove that they were asking for a non-discriminatory reason. (I’m not sure whether there’s an actual rebuttable presumption of discrimination, but in practical terms, that’s what the company faces if they do something that looks obviously discriminatory.)
In other words, while it is possible that your or chaoticbear’s employer could prevail in court, a call to the EEOC or ACLU by someone with evidence that the employer requires a Social Security card could easily lead to a very unpleasant and expensive situation for the company. And it’s hard to imagine what defense they would use, since they told chaoticbear he’d be fired if he didn’t produce a card. How is that not discriminatory against those who can’t get a card but are entitled to work?
If you take a look at the actual form (PDF here), here’s what it’s saying:
The Social Security card is an acceptable “document that establishes employment authorization” (List C, last page). A job applicant may present a SS card or any of the other 7 equivalent documents along with a “document which establishes identity” (List B). Alternatively, an applicant may provide a document from List A and not have to worry about lists B and C at all.
What the employer CANNOT do is specify which documents are acceptable. If you show up with a U.S. Passport, for example, the employer may not ask for a social security card.
It sounds to me your manager/HR person is an idiot. The I-9 makes is abundantly clear to anyone who can be bothered to read AND comprehend that anyone presenting any 1 of the documents in List A is eligible for employment in the U.S. of A.
As someone who has had to fill out hundreds of I-9’s I always appreciate the people who give me a passport or something else from List A because it saves time and simplifies things.
Eva Luna does indeed have the facts correct and is the resident expert in this area.
Nothing annoys me more than seeing someone who obviously knows what they’re talking about post the answer to a question (with supporting cites in this case!) and then be completely ignored and contradicted by people making WAGs and blatant assumptions. Except maybe the very rare occasion when I’m the one who knows what he’s talking about and I still get ignored!
And global warming.
Cite?
–Cliffy
Actually, you don’t need the card to apply for SS. I just did it a few months back, all handled online and with a phone call from SS. They even obtained my birth certificate electronically, so I didn’t have to provide it. Piece of cake.