Couple orders a tie, receives employee social security numbers instead

What the couple actually got in the mail should is a cause for concern for all Gap employees: the confidential files of about 20 former employees, including Social Security numbers and W4 tax forms. “We totally laughed,” Dreyfuss, 29, said on Friday from her home in Cambridge, Mass. She had misgivings about the package as soon as it arrived. It was really heavy and didn’t say Banana Republic, but Gap Inc. She and her fiancee have been buying each other presents, and she thought it may have been a really heavy piece of clothing with catalogs, said Dreyfuss, the daughter of actor Richard Dreyfuss. Inside were three folders sealed with tape and labeled “HR Administration.” They contained tax and Social Security information as well as handwritten resignation letters, doctors’ notes and salary information — seemingly the employees’ entire record at the company. The employees were sales support associates and at least one made $9 an hour, Dreyfuss said. Dreyfuss, who runs the home page and also writes for technology website CNET said she didn’t look through everything. “I got a queasy feeling and felt like I should stop looking at this,” she said. Edie Kissko, a spokeswoman for Gap Inc. in San Francisco said in a statement:“We’re taking immediate action to evaluate and strengthen our processes to prevent miss-mailings in the future and apologize for the error.” Apparently clothing and employee information is sent out in the same type of gray plastic bag, and the two packages appear to have been simply mislabeled, though it is unclear how that happened according to Fox News. Dreyfuss said the episode with Banana Republic raised concerns about how well the company is safeguarding customer information. These kinds of accidents are scary, because when this sort of confidential information lands in the wrong hands, many can become victims of identity theft. According to USA Today, Dreyfuss was offered a free tie and pocket handkerchief — a $61 value, but said she declined the offer.]]>