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FedEx fixing data leak
(Orange County Register, The (CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 4--FedEx Freight West officials were scrambling Friday to recall W-2s sent to as many as 8,500 employees after learning that some of the forms also included other workers' tax information. Up to 1,100 workers in the Los Angeles-Orange County area could be affected.
"The company's very concerned and taking it very seriously," said Sally Davenport, a spokeswoman at the company's Memphis, Tenn., headquarters.
She said the company learned about the problem Tuesday when employees started reporting that one segment of their W-2s included another worker's W-2, including Social Security number, pay and tax information.
The company is unsure how it happened, although it thinks its internal processing center, which was responsible for printing and mailing the W-2s, may have misaligned the forms so that they didn't cut off at the right place. Davenport said it was unclear how many employees got someone else's information.
FedEx workers received an e-mail Tuesday from Rick Medefesser, senior manager of human resources, telling them of the error. He asked them to keep their W-2 envelopes sealed and return them promptly to their managers.
Davenport said new W-2s would go out as soon as possible.
Many workers, however, had already opened their W-2s and were upset about the possibility of identity theft as well as having had their pay information get out.
Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said she hears about the erroneous release of private information from processing problems two or three times a year. It's unusual, however, to involve W-2s. More often a bank or other financial institution sends out statements to the wrong people because of a sorting error.
"These things do happen, and it really is a terrible situation," she said.
In most cases, fellow workers won't share someone else's confidential information, she said. In FedEx's case, however, as many as 2,500 of the W-2s went to people who no longer work at the company.
Givens advised workers concerned about identity theft to contact the three major credit-reporting agencies and put 90-day fraud alerts on their files.
That will allow them to get free copies of their credit reports. Four or five months later, they should apply for the free annual credit report allowed by law to check for any problems.
Philip Barquer, a human resources specialist at HR Alternatives in Newport Beach, said the best way an employer can deal with the upset caused by this kind of error is to notify workers immediately, set up a system to get the forms back as soon as possible and stress that information contained in W-2s is confidential.
Instead of having workers return the W-2s to their supervisors, Barquer recommended the employer provide them with a preaddressed, stamped envelope marked "confidential" on the front and back to ensure as few people as possible have access to the information.
Although employers by law must get W-2s to employees by Jan. 31, IRS spokesman Raphael Tulino said the agency would recognize a case that was an honest error. If workers need the information immediately, they should contact their employer, he said. If employees don't have their W-2s by Feb. 15, they may contact the IRS for help in getting the information at (800) 829-1040.
FRAUD ALERTS: If you believe your personal information may be stolen, you should contact the three major credit bureaus and request a fraud alert be put on your file. The initial alert lasts 90 days. During that time creditors should contact you before extending credit. If you have a cell phone, you may want to use that number so you can be immediately contacted. After calling the credit agencies, you must follow up in writing.
--Experian: (888) 397-3742; P.O. Box 9556, Allen, TX 75013-9556.
--Equifax: (800) 525-6285; P.O. Box 740250, Atlanta, GA 30374-0250.
--TransUnion: (800) 680-7289; P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790.
For more information on how to handle identity theft, go online to www.privacyrights.org.
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