Administaff, Inc. (NYSE:ASF), a leading provider of human resources services for small and medium-sized businesses, today announced that a company laptop computer containing personal information about individuals who were Administaff worksite employees during calendar year 2006 has been reported missing.
The facts as determined by the company's investigation strongly indicate that this was a random event, and that the personal information was not specifically targeted. At this time, the company has no reason to believe that the personal information has been accessed or used improperly. The laptop computer, which was reported missing on Oct. 3, 2007, is password protected; however, the personal information was not saved in an encrypted location, which is a clear violation of company policies.
The confidential data was being compiled in response to a governmental reporting requirement and included names, addresses and Social Security numbers for most worksite employees paid by Administaff in 2006.
The company is taking steps to notify approximately 96,000 former worksite employees and approximately 63,000 current worksite employees in writing and will offer to them one year of free credit monitoring services with fraud resolution assistance. Administaff has also established a toll-free dedicated helpline and Web site for affected individuals and clients. Affected individuals can find additional information to assist them at http://www.administaff.com/idprotection.
"Maintaining the integrity of confidential information is of utmost importance to Administaff, and we continue to take appropriate measures to safeguard the security of personal data," said Paul J. Sarvadi, Administaff chairman and chief executive officer. "We deeply regret that this incident occurred. While we have no evidence to suggest the information stored on the computer has been accessed or misused, we are taking precautionary measures to ensure that the affected individuals have resources available to protect themselves."
Administaff is the nation's leading professional employer organization (PEO), serving as a full-service human resources department that provides small and medium-sized businesses with administrative relief, big-company benefits, reduced liabilities and a systematic way to improve productivity. The company operates 47 sales offices in 23 major markets. For additional information, visit Administaff's Web site at http://www.administaff.com.
The statements contained herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws (Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934). You can identify such forward-looking statements by the words "expects,""intends," "plans,""projects," "believes,""estimates," "likely,""possibly," "probably,""goal," "objective,""target," "assume,""outlook," "guidance,""predicts," "appears,""indicator" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. In the normal course of business, Administaff, Inc., in an effort to help keep our stockholders and the public informed about our operations, may from time to time issue such forward-looking statements, either orally or in writing. Generally, these statements relate to business plans or strategies, projected or anticipated benefits or other consequences of such plans or strategies, or projections involving anticipated revenues, earnings, unit growth, profit per worksite employee, pricing, operating expenses or other aspects of operating results. We base the forward-looking statements on our current expectations, estimates and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that we cannot predict. In addition, we have based many of these forward-looking statements on assumptions about future events that may prove to be inaccurate. Therefore, the actual results of the future events described in such forward-looking statements could differ materially from those stated in such forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are: (i) changes in general economic conditions; (ii) regulatory and tax developments and possible adverse application of various federal, state and local regulations, including but not limited to the California State Unemployment Tax matter; (iii) changes in our direct costs and operating expenses including, but not limited to, increases in health insurance costs and workers' compensation rates and underlying claims trends, financial solvency of workers' compensation carriers and other insurers, state unemployment tax rates, liabilities for employee and client actions or payroll-related claims, changes in the costs of expanding into new markets, and failure to manage growth of our operations; (iv) the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts; (v) changes in the competitive environment in the PEO industry, including the entrance of new competitors and our ability to renew or replace client companies; (vi) our liability for worksite employee payroll and benefits costs; and (vii) an adverse final judgment or settlement of claims against Administaff. These factors are discussed in further detail in Administaff's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Any of these factors, or a combination of such factors, could materially affect the results of our operations and whether forward-looking statements we make ultimately prove to be accurate.
