TO: All Agency Heads. Personnel Officers and Affirmative Action Officers

SUBJECT: Policy on the Release of Social Security Numbers

By this policy bulletin, the Department at Civil Service is restricting release of individual social security numbers while continuing to make them available for agency employee identification.

This policy is essential both to address individuals' legitimate concerns for privacy in the face or spreading use ad the social security number as the universal identifier and to respond to increasing scrutiny ad government's role as a repository of sensitive information It is imperative that public servants be circumspect in use and revelation of social security numbers am other personal information; I believe that this policy bulletin will help achieve that end.

To protect privacy, the Department ad Civil Service will disclose an individual's social security number only under the following conditions:

1. where required by law;
2. upon written authorization of the number holder; or
3. for legitimate employee identification by State Departments and Agencies and/or employee organizations

This policy shall take effect immediately and applies to reports normally made available to the public, such as eligible lists, as well as to requests for information available user the Freedom ad Information Act. Such material should be made available on the same basis as before, with social security numbers excised.

(signed) Karen S. Burstein
President, Civil Service Commission