NCTEquality.org
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) receives calls regularly from transgender people across the country who have been ?outed? to their employers by the Social Security Administration?s (SSA?s) unfair gender ?no-match? employment letter policy. We continue to work with individuals to mitigate the impact these letters are having on people?s medical privacy and employment security.
Background – SSA regularly checks to make sure that all persons working in the United States are the actual holders of the SSN that they put on their I-9 form. Further, this practice works to ensure that all workers eventually receive the Social Security funds that they are entitled to. In confirming this information SSA sometimes compares an employee?s gender. Because it is difficult to change your gender marker with the SSA this practice has resulted in employers receiving gender no-match letters from the SSA and DHS. Further, because SSA requires proof of irreversible Sexual Reassignment Surgery in order to change a gender marker, NCTE is of the belief that they should properly regard a person?s gender as a private medical matter.