For sale: Your job history

As for the records themselves, "I look at it as a reality of our age," says Evan Hendricks, the author of "Credit Scores & Credit Reports" and publisher of the Privacy Times newsletter. "This is straightforward information showing that you had the job and what it is."

At the same time, he says, "there are dangers: accuracy, data security, hacking or authorized users looking for an unauthorized purpose."

Talx has taken a number of precautions to prevent those problems, says Ford. "We employ the strictest standards with regard to security."

The company will not sell repackaged data on identifiable individuals, Ford says.

"We do not sell it to anybody to use for marketing," she says. Talx's agreements with employers "allow for data to be used for demographics," but only after records have been stripped of any personal information, such as names and Social Security numbers, she adds.

How to check your Work Number

Talx abides by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Ford says. That means you can request a free copy of your Work Number records every year. That file also will tell you who has been looking at your information. To get your files, you can print out a request form and mail it in or call 1-866-604-6570.

Ford says the number of consumer disputes is "very small" despite more than 600,000 record checks each month. The company has had a dispute process in place for a little more than a year, and in that time it has had about 150 disputes, she says.

An employee can dispute information, and the company will investigate by contacting the employer that supplied the data. During the investigation, which is completed within 30 days, the company won't allow access to the disputed information.

If the employer reports that the information is inaccurate, it is changed, and the employee is notified. The employee also can request that the corrected information be forwarded to companies that have recently viewed the inaccurate information.

If the employer reports that the information is correct, the employee is notified and has the option of adding a note to the file explaining the discrepancy.

If the employer doesn't respond, the company adds a notation to the file stating the employee's concerns.

• Video: Where to get a free credit report

Corrections can be problematic for current and former employees. First, a job seeker might fear tipping off a current employer. Second, former employers may not be willing or able (if the company is no longer in business) to correct past mistakes.

In the current dispute system, it appears that employers have the final word, Swire says. "But as these databases become so important to individuals, it's important to have effective consumer redress."

This article was reported and written by Dana Dratch for Bankrate.com.

Published May 1, 2008

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