Why Does FACTA Matter to Me?
FACTA stands for Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act. FACTA is the law which allows any American access to their credit report once per year. The law went into effect Jan. 1, 2005. So what does that mean for you as an employer?
On June 1, 2005, a new provision of FACTA goes into effect. It says that any employer (even if you only employ one person, and you have their personal information so that you can pay social security taxes,) whose action or inaction results in the loss of employee information, can be fined by federal and state government, and sued in civil court.
A USA Today article on FACTA from Jan. 14. 2005, stated "Bet you didn't know that." But you need to know, and need to know what you can do to protect yourself.
Small Businesses affected the most
'"A small businessman who makes a mistake could bear the brunt of a regulation like this," says James Plummer, policy analyst at Consumer Alert, a non-profit group that focuses on a free-market approach to consumer regulations.'
The USA Today article goes on to say that "if you don't shred and information gets out, there are penalties." But what if you do shred all potential employee information, and take all necessary precautions to protect your past, current, and future employees' identities, and the information still gets out somehow? Under FACTA, you could still be held responsible.
You may not think information theft could happen to you, but neither did this short list of companies, universities, government institutions, and businesses that have had employee or customer information stolen from them:
DSW Shoe Warehouse
Lexis Nexis
University of Northern Colorado
California State University (Chico)
University of California - Berkeley
University of Maryland
Las Vegas Department of Motor Vehicles
Bank of America
Choice Point
Weld County (CO) Employees (information stolen by an inmate while in jail)
How can you, as an employer, minimize your liability?
There are hundreds of things you can do to minimize liability, which are probably things you already do. Document shredding, redaction of electronically stored information, careful screening of employees who will be coming into contact with personal information of customers and employees, physically locking file drawers with sensitive information, and setting up firewalls on computer equipment connected to the Internet, among hundreds of other solutions, are all good ideas.
The old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is definitely the case when it comes to securing personal information. However, no matter what prevention steps you take, there is no 100% effective way to be sure that employee's information won't be compromised. Even if the information doesn't get out from your company, an employee can claim that it did.
That's a scary thought! What if an employee claims that their information was stolen through the actions of your company, but there's no real proof to back it up? You will end up hiring (or using) an attorney to represent and defend your company in court. At $150 - $200/hour for most attorneys across the United States, how long can you afford to defend your company?
So what can you do?
The only sure solution, or at least the only solution that would at least provide an affirmative defense against the fines, fees, and lawsuits you could incur as an employer, is to offer some sort of Identity Theft protection as a benefit to your employees.
As an employer, you can choose whether or not to pay for this added benefit. However, the most important thing you can do is to make the protection available, and have a mandatory employee meeting, similar to what you probably already do for health insurance, to help employees understand Identity Theft and the protection that you are making available to them. When you make the protection available, and when your employees have been educated on the dangers of Identity Theft, they can either elect to have identity theft coverage as a benefit, or they can decline the coverage as a benefit.
If the employee has Identity Theft coverage and becomes a victim, it is beneficial to your business, because an employee with Identity Theft coverage will spend less time, less money, and will experience less frustration while trying to have their information restored. This will get them back on the job and focused on work more quickly.
If the employee declines the coverage, and later claims that the information was stolen as a result of you or your company's actions, you have a piece of paper, with their signature, saying that they attended the presentation and declined the coverage.
Choosing to not make Identity Theft coverage available leaves you exposed to an unlimited dollar amount that you can be sued for under civil liability, federal fines of up to $2,500.00 per employee per incident, and state fines of up to $1,000.00 per employee per incident.
Recommended course of action? Have a benefits consultant who offers an Identity Theft protection plan present to your employees. Help them set up a 20 minute presentation with your employees, and make it mandatory that all employees attend. You want your employees to be protected from this awful crime. If they choose not to be, but you've given the option of being protected, then the liability becomes theirs, not yours, when they become a victim of identity theft.
Jonathan Kraft is a benefits consultant who specializes in educating people about how they can get affordable access to the legal system. Because of his work in the field of electronic Identity Theft, he has come to be known as Colorado's Foremost Expert on Computer Related Identity Theft. To schedule a time for Mr. Kraft to present Identity Theft and Legal Service protection to your employees, please contact him at (877) 825-7119. You can also find out more on the web at http://www.strive4impact.com/group
MORE RESOURCES:
 Washington Times | US Consumer Credit Increases $14.3 Billion in June (Update2) Bloomberg - Consumer credit rose by $14.3 billion, the most since November, to $2.59 trillion, the Federal Reserve said today in Washington. In May, credit rose by $8.1 ... US June consumer credit rises by $14.3 bln, 6.7 pct annual growth rate Consumers jack up borrowing in June Ahead of the Bell: Consumer Credit |
 Siliconrepublic.com | US Government charges 11 in massive credit card fraud case Heise Online, Germany - The US government has charged 11 people with stealing tens of millions of credit and debit card details as part of an operation that targeted numerous ... Video: Feds Charge 11 in Massive Retail Hacking Case US authorities charge 11 with global credit data theft 11 charged over US credit card theft |
Credit Suisse Sued Over Auction-Rate Securities (Update3) Bloomberg - 7 (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, was sued by Swiss semiconductor company STMicroelectronics NV for allegedly placing ... STMicro sues Credit Suisse over auction-rate debt |
 Boston Globe | Credit cards: US authorities charge 11 in global identity theft racket guardian.co.uk, UK - American authorities have uncovered a global computer hacking and credit card fraud ring spanning the US, eastern Europe and Asia, officials said. ... Gang charged for theft of 41 million credit card numbers 11 charged in connection with credit card fraud 41 Million credit and debit card numbers stolen |
 Washington Post | Here comes the credit crackdown Independent, UK - One year into the credit crisis, regulators are hard at work on new laws they hope will prevent history repeating itself. Leading investment banks fear a ... Industry group to address credit risk Panel Calls for New Risk Standards Banking Group Proposes Wide Range of Reforms |
 RTE.ie | Barclays' Profits Hit by Credit Crunch BusinessWeek - by Kerry Capell The credit crunch continues to take its toll on British banks. On Aug. 7, Barclays (BCS) revealed its first-half pretax profits fell by ... Barclays: credit and credibility Income at Barclays declines less than analysts expected Barclays Profit Falls 34% on Securities Writedowns (Update2) |
Consumer credit jumps at fastest rate in 7 months MarketWatch - Consumer credit, excluding mortgage debt, expanded at a 6.7% annual rate in June after rising at a 3.8% pace in May. It was the biggest increase since the ... Credit-card Companies Making It Harder To Say 'charge It' CreditCards.com: Weekly Credit Card Rate Report Reform credit card industry |
 Earthtimes (press release) | Consumer credit rose $14.33 bln in June Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US consumer credit expanded at the fastest rate in seven months in June as Americans turned to credit cards and consumer loans to ... Consumer credit rose $14.33 billion in June |
BC-based Lake View Credit Union Selects Open Solutions' Core Platform MarketWatch - Lake View Credit Union has assets of more than $200CDN million and serves 15500 members through three branches. This year, the credit union celebrated its ... |
Bridge Finance Group Provides a $4.0 Million Revolving Line of ... MarketWatch - CHICAGO, Aug 07, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bridge Finance Group announced the completion of a revolving line of credit to Access Distribution, ... |
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