Business Buzz
New law affects you at home and at work
by Carole Worley and John P. Gardner, Jr.
The weekend edition of USA Today recently ran a front-page article about a new law that makes identity theft a nightmare not only for the victim, but also potentially for the business or individual from which the information was originally stolen. Identity theft, the fastest growing crime in America today, is about to get personal, whether you are the original victim or not.
Every business or individual agent of a company who collects medical information for insurance or other purposes and businesses, which collect financial information for payroll or other purposes, is already subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPPA,and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and their strict privacy regulations. This summer, every business and individual who has even one employee, down to a nanny, becomes subject to another federal law.
FACTA, the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, signed into law recently by President Bush requires you to destroy any personal information you have about anyone you employ, even at home, before you throw it away. That means you must keep it, shred it, burn it or, if it’s on a compute,r pulverize or “wipe it” before it leaves your possession. If you don’t, you could get sued or fined by the federal government or state government or worse, get caught in a class action law suit or charged with a federal crime, depending on what law you are found to have violated.
The figures are not in for 2004, but the reported figures in 2003 say 7 million Americans were victims of ID theft. Up to 70 percent of the victims’ identities are stolen at work. The average dollar amount in theft is $92,893, and it took the average victim 600 hours to clear it! Understand -- that is almost four months at 40 hours a week straight. We do not believe the reported figures are even the tip of the iceberg. What is even more troubling is that the banks and other financial institutions are beginning to be in a position where they are not, as a matter of course, putting the stolen funds back into their customers’ accounts, but are beginning to question whether the customer notified them in the appropriate time. So the losses are becoming very real to individuals and businesses.
What can a small business or individual do? First, before throwing away any paper documents, shred them! Second, get a bonded professional to “wipe clean” any computers before discarding or donating them to worthy causes or trading them in for an upgraded system. Third, in our opinion, you need a good identity theft shield for yourself and you should urge your employees and clients to have one as well. A good identity theft shield, in addition to providing help in all three areas of identity theft, will also act as an early warning detection system in case your client or employee records have been stolen.
For more information contact Carole Worley 638-4369 or log on to www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/crworley.
Carole Worley is an independent associate with Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., a 32-year-old company, publicly traded on the NYSE, specializing in identity theft and legal services nationwide.
John P. Gardner, Jr., is a third-generation attorney in South Carolina with 25 years' practice as a criminal attorney, eight years' experience in the S. C. General Assembly and four years service as a state highway commissioner. He also co-authored Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurial Soul.
Page created and maintained by West Florida Electric Cooperative, Inc. © 2001.
designed by embryo design