
Ask HN: Can a PEO rightfully expose your income to other employers? - amevo
In 2019 I worked for two companies that made use of the same professional employer organization (PEO). This PEO generated a single W-2 for 2019, combining my income from the two companies. Both companies can view this combined income W-2. Simple W-2 less payroll math would reveal to each company what the other paid.<p>This doesn&#x27;t sit well with me for myriad reasons, and I can&#x27;t imagine this is entirely legal. While the PEO reps are empathetic in correspondence on this issue, no resolution&#x2F;progress on the matter has been made whatsoever over the last few weeks. Any advice&#x2F;counsel is appreciated.
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lotsofpulp
Many companies provide employee pay data to equifax, and equifax sells it to
many people:

[https://www.fastcompany.com/40508924/equifax-could-be-
sellin...](https://www.fastcompany.com/40508924/equifax-could-be-selling-your-
salary-history-heres-how-to-protect-it)

~~~
lonelappde
Note: the Work Number is effectively a collusion of employers against labor,
an employer's "union" of sorts . Much lie the one where "competing" employers
agreed not to recruit from each other to avoid bidding eats. Remember that
next time your employer tells you you don't need a union.

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chrisgoman
No, this is not right. The PEO is paying you "on behalf of" a specific
employer (even if your check is coming out of the PEO's account). So you
should get 2 W2s with separate amounts from each employer.

TriNet (a large PEO) stores employees as SSN so if you have ever worked for a
company that used TriNet as their PEO, you are in their system. As an
employee, you should see a dropdown at the top and you can only see _ONE_
employer at a time and you have to use the dropdown to switch around.

The only reason you _can_ get ONE W-2 is if you work at a temp agency. The
employer technically pays the temp agency and the temp agency pays you. So
even if you got billed out to 10 different "employers", you are still an
employee of the temp agency and you get ONE W-2 but technically, this is NOT a
PEO situation

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godzillabrennus
My understanding is exactly the opposite.

If you do work for a client of a PEO it is as an employee of the PEO.
Therefore you would only get one W2 from the work you did.

~~~
compsciphd
that's what he said, if you are an employee of a contractor who contracts you
out to different companies, you are an emplyee of only one company.

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toomuchtodo
Check with an attorney (a consult is usually no cost) if "26 U.S. Code §
7213.Unauthorized disclosure of information" [1] or "26 U.S. Code §
6103.Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information" [2]
applies to this situation. If applicable, your attorney may consider
contacting the PEO's legal department to inform them of their violation of
federal statute.

[1]
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7213](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7213)

[2]
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103)

~~~
amevo
Thank you. Which kind of attorney would handle this: data privacy, tax,
consumer protection, something else?

~~~
snapetom
If I was in your position, I would start with a labor attorney. First off,
there are plenty of them. Second, they specialize in the employee/employer
relationship. Privacy is one very common aspect of this relationship.

If they are not able to help, they should at least point you in the right
direction.

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JohnFen
Your PEO is making the W-2 available to the companies you did work for? That's
weird. I can't think of a reason why that would be necessary at all... the W-2
is between you, company who is paying you (your PEO), and the IRS.

I would clarify their policy around this, and perhaps ask the IRS what the
rules around W-2 disclosures are.

~~~
amevo
Correct, both companies can see the same combined income W-2 within the PEO's
site.

~~~
edcastano
Who is the PEO? Some PEOs have very stringet legal teams that would make a big
fuss about this. Depending who your PEO is, you might just reach out directly
to their legal department.

Source: I worked for a large PEO.

~~~
JohnFen
And if you can't get this fixed, you might consider changing to a different
one.

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icedchai
Your pay comes from the PEO, on "behalf" of the employer, right? Technically
you "work for" the PEO, so this sounds fine to combine them. I bet they can't
even do anything about it.

~~~
kelnos
In that case, it's concerning that the PEO is sharing the W-2 with the
companies the OP did work for. If the OP doesn't have an employment
relationship with these companies, it seems like a huge privacy breach for the
PEO to be sharing W-2s with these companies at all.

~~~
amevo
I was hired and employed by both companies. They both make use of the same
PEO. I’m not sure it’s legally correct to say I only have an “employment
relationship” with the PEO.

~~~
icedchai
So does your check / payroll deposit come from the PEO? W2's are about who
paid you.

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TechBro8615
On the bright side, if both companies are large, it's unlikely your manager at
either will ever notice.

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edcastano
Who is the PEO?

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skinnymuch
Post says in the first sentence

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bzax
The post answers "what is a PEO", but not "what is your PEO". The second is
what's meant by "who is the PEO?"

