Social Insurance Numbers - Important

Hello Everyone,

I found out something very interesting and alarming from my year-end course that involves S.I.N.s. This will mostly apply to women so please pass this information on to everyone you know.

If you have had a name change, make sure your S.I.N. card matches your new name. All employers are required by law to see your SIN at time of hire. There are fines that can be levied if an employer does not attempt to view it.

Anyways, if the name of the card does not match the name on the employment application form, your employer is suppose to refuse to accept it. They are then to instruct the employee to go to the Service Canada office and obtain a new card. In theory, if the employer never does get the proper number, they should put 000 000 000 on the T4 and the CRA will deal with you.

Practially speaking, employers do not necessarily check the name and this can cause huge problems for married women or women who have had a name change since their SIN was originally issued.

If you get laid off and make a claim for EI, if the name on your SIN does not match your ROE, your claim will be delayed until you get a new (updated) card. As well, previous employment records under the other name are not automatically linked so you could be missing hours that could go toward your claim.

You could also miss out on CPP entitlements that fell under different names.

Another problem can happen for beneficiaries. You will need to fight for your entitlement if your name does not match the SIN. So, if there is a female in your family that has passed away, check for any records under all names (maiden, married, etc) in case they did not update their card.

Your SIN does not automatically update (despite what people were told years ago) when you get married and submit your papers to the government. Go to the Service Canada website, find out what paperwork you need and get it changed asap. The website for this info is:

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sin/apply/how.shtml