Labor Employer Reporting Instructions

Part II - Establishment and Maintenance of Employee Records 

Chapter 1: Establishing New Records for New Hires

1

New Records

Records for newly hired railroad employees are established from the annual reports of service 

and compensation. Thus, it is important that the social security numbers (SSN) and names under 

which the employees' service and compensation are reported, are correct.

A current employee may appear to be a new hire if the employee is reported under an incorrect 

SSN. Because the incorrect SSN will not match an existing Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) 

record, a new record will be established for the incorrect SSN. That error is detected and 

corrected only after investigation with Social Security Administration (SSA), the employer and 

possibly, the employee.

Verification of SSN of New Hires

It is the employers' responsibility to obtain correct SSNs from all employees of their 

organization. Employers can do this by reviewing the newly hired employee's Social Security 

card. If the new hire does not have a social security number, have the new hire file Form SS-5, 

Application for Social Security Number Card, with SSA.

To prevent transcription or keying errors, match the SSNs in your current report of service and 

compensation to the previous report. Verify that all SSNs that do not match the previous report 

are new hires. This will help prevent records from being established under incorrect numbers.

SSA Employee Verification Service (EVS)

SSA has developed a free Employee Verification Service (EVS) that will match your record of 

employee names and SSNs with SSA's records before you prepare and submit your service and 

compensation reports. There are several methods you can choose from to take advantage of this 

easy to use system: 

To verify up to 5 

names/SSNs:

Call their toll-free number (800) 772-6270.

To verify up to 50 

names/SSNs:

Submit a paper listing to your local Social Security Office.

To verify over 50 

names/SSNs:

Mail or fax a completed a registration form and privacy act 

statement to SSA.

Contact SSA at (800) 772-6270 for more information about the service. 
Labor Employer Reporting Instructions

Part II - Establishment and Maintenance of Employee Records 

Chapter 1: Establishing New Records for New Hires

2

Establishment and Verification of New Records 

The RRB will establish and verify a new record as follows: 

Step Action

1 RRB establishes a new employee record when a 

service and compensation report is received 

containing a SSN that does not match an existing 

record. At this point, the new record is incomplete 

as it contains only the first five letters of the

surname.

2 RRB sends all new records to SSA annually to 

match with SSA records. New RRB records which 

match SSA records are considered as verified and 

the full surname from SSA's record is posted to 

RRB's records along with an employee's gender 

and date of birth.

3 New RRB records which do not match SSA 

records produce referrals to employers for 

reconciliation. The new RRB record will remain 

unverified with only a five-letter surname until 

either RRB or SSA changes their records and a 

match occurs. See Part VII, Chapter 2 for 

information on how the RRB resolves these 

discrepancies.