The work number phone number for employees

The Work Number

USDA is pleased to announce a national employment verification service, The Work Number For Everyone ®.

USDA employees can use this service to provide employment verification, to secure a loan, or to rent an apartment. This service provides employment and salary verification information through a touch-tone phone to credit and reference verifiers upon request.

A verifier is a bank, lender, landlord, or other person or organization that has a need to verify your employment information.

Three Types of Verification

Basic Verification

This verification is usually required for apartment rentals and reference checks.

Employee name
Employee SSN
Employment status
Employee's service computation date for retirement
Employee's total time with the Government
Employee's job title
Reference number for the verification

Basic Plus Verification

This verification is usually required for small, short term loans.

All of the information from the basic verification option
Salary rate
Pay frequency

Full Verification

This verification is usually required for all major loans, including mortgages.

All of the information from the basic and basic plus verification options
Gross earnings YTD and for the past 2 years

Features and Benefits

The Work Number For Everyone ® will benefit you because it is:

Timely - The information is available to the lender in a matter of minutes
Easy to Use - Automated, one call, and paperless
Accurate - Information is taken directly from the USDA Payroll/Personnel System record and updated biweekly
Accessible - Available 17 hours a day, 7 days a week. TTY access is provided through the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339. Voice, fax, and EDI accessibility.
Trackable - A record of all requests is maintained
Simple - One number nationwide

How Does it Work?

As an employee, how do I use this service?

Each employee is responsible for authorizing the release of their employment and salary information. The credit and reference verifiers must receive an authorization code from you to access your information.

To obtain an authorization code:

From a touch-tone telephone, call 1-800-367-2884.
Enter the following information when prompted:
- USDA's company code, 10284
- Your social security number
- Your individual PIN number (contact your Personnel Office for your PIN)
Record the authorization code in a secure place for future reference.

How does the verifier use this service?

To access your employment information The verifier will need the following information:

The USDA company code, 10284
Your social security number
One of your authorization codes

The verifier will then need to call 1-800-367-5690 in order to complete the verification process.

Employment or Income Verification

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) utilizes The Work Number® service for all employment or income verification requests for faculty, staff, graduate assistants, and student employees. The Work Number® is a fast and secure way to provide proof of your employment or income—a necessary step in many of today’s life events involving credit, financing, or securing of benefits or services. The Work Number® simplifies the verification process and accelerates credit decisions through an online system available to verifiers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Work Number® protects sensitive employee information by credentialing all verifiers prior to system use, authenticating the verifier at login, requiring the verifier to have Consumer Consent and a valid Permissible Purpose for requesting the data, and monitoring and auditing verifier activity to ensure compliance with the above safeguards. Hundreds of thousands of credentialed verifiers rely on The Work Number® for secure and rapid access to information critical to their decision process, and thousands of employers nationwide have entrusted The Work Number® to provide this important service on behalf of their employees.

Employer Codes

Faculty and Staff

The University of Northern Iowa’s faculty and staff employer code is 17853.

Graduate Assistants and Student Employees

The University of Northern Iowa’s graduate assistant and student employee employer code is 18051.

Proof of Employment

Proof of Employment for Faculty and Staff

When required to prove that you are employed by the university, you must give consent to the verifying agency by providing UNI’s faculty and staff employer code 17853. No salary key is required. The verifier can then obtain your job title, dates of employment, length of employment and status (active or inactive) from The Work Number®.

Proof of Employment for Graduate Assistants and Student Employees

When required to prove that you are employed by the university, you must give consent to the verifying agency by providing UNI’s graduate assistant and student employee employer code 18051. Per FERPA regulations, all students must also provide a salary key (for more information about a salary key, please read below). The verifier can then obtain your job title, dates of employment, length of employment and status (active or inactive) from The Work Number®.

Proof of Employment and Income

To provide proof of your employment and your income, you must give consent to the verifying agency by providing:

For faculty and staff, you must provide the employer code 17853 and a salary key.
For graduate assistants and student employees, you must provide the employer code 18051 and a salary key.

The salary key is a six-digit code that you provide the verifier that authorizes one-time access to your income information on The Work Number®. When you give consent and your salary key to the verifier, The Work Number® provides the verifier with your job title, dates of employment, length of employment, status (active or inactive), pay rate and total income for the current and past two years. Income is reported by base pay, overtime, commission, bonuses and other income.

Visit www.theworknumber.com/employees or call 1-800-367-2884 (1-800-424-0253 for TTY if hearing impaired). Follow the instructions to create a salary key. For additional assistance, visit The Work Number® Frequently Asked Questions.

When you are asked to provide employment or income verification to a social service agency, you must give consent to the verifier by providing the agency UNI’s faculty and staff employer code 17853. No salary key is needed. The social services agency can obtain the employment verification information from The Work Number®. Direct your caseworker to www.theworknumber.com/SocialServices or 1-800-660-3399.

When you are asked to provide employment or income verification to a social service agency, you must give consent to the verifier by providing the agency UNI’s graduate assistant and student employee code 18051. Per FERPA regulations, all students must also provide a salary key. The social services agency can obtain the employment verification information from The Work Number®. Direct your caseworker to www.theworknumber.com/SocialServices or 1-800-660-3399.

Employment Data Report

The Work Number® complies with The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which ensures that employees can see who is requesting their data and provides a mechanism to dispute data that they believe to be inaccurate. This report is intended to present transparency regarding your information on The Work Number® and can be provided upon request. Review more information on the Employment Data Report.

International Student Verification

International Student and Scholar Services handles employment authorizations for international students, scholars, and their dependents.

Information on employing internationals in F-1 or J-1 status or their F-2/J-2 dependents
Information on inviting a J-1 scholar to campus

Troubleshooting

If you are locked out and the PIN reset does not work, you can request assistance at The Work Number®, (800) 827-9430.
How to determine PIN
If you are a victim of identity theft and would like to block verifiers using The Work Number® service, then please contact or .

What is The Work Number for employment verification?

Those requesting employment or salary verification may access THE WORK NUMBER® online at https://www.theworknumber.com/verifiers/ using DOL's code: 10915. You may also contact the service directly via phone at: 1-800-367-5690.

How can I speak to someone at The Work Number?

The Work Number is a fully automated service. Please direct whoever is requesting proof of employment or income to www.theworknumber.com or call 1-800-996-7566 for assistance.

Is The Work Number free for employees?

Employees have access to a free annual Employment Data Report or EDR. An EDR is a report, per the Fair Credit Reporting Act, to allow transparency to an employee's information contained on The Work Number and a list of all verifiers who have attempted access to employee's employment records in the prior 24 months.

How do I find my salary key for The Work Number?

The Work Number can be accessed by the verifier at www.theworknumber.com or by calling 1-800-367-5690. Employees may also manage the Salary Key function by logging into The Work Number system over the phone. Simply call 1-800-367-2884 and follow the instructional voice prompts.