DCL-99-145, Employer Address Issue

DCL-99-145 DEC 30, 1999

TO: STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES

RE: Employer Address Issue

Dear Colleague:

This letter is being sent to inform you of a problem we are experiencing regarding the employer address sent to us from State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) as part of the New Hire Reporting program. Beginning in January, we would like to set up a teleconference call with each SESA to discuss this problem and possible solutions. Below is a description of the employer address background and current status:

Background

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) relies on SESAs for unemployment insurance (UI) claims benefit and quarterly wage (QW) data to help locate noncustodial parents who may be evading their child support obligations. We are well aware of the contribution made by the SESAs to the child support enforcement program, and we thank you for your continued support. The success of the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) would not be possible without your assistance.

As you know, States send new hire reports, UI claims data, and QW data to the NDNH. The NDNH compares this employment data with participants in child support cases. When a match is found, that employment information is sent to the appropriate State. The State in turn sends a child support request (e.g., request for employment verification or income withholding order) to the noncustodial parent's employer. As more States implement their statewide automated child support systems, the automatic generation of these request letters increases accordingly.

Current Status

Many States are receiving NDNH matches that have the noncustodial parent's employer name and federal employer identification number (FEIN), but with the mailing address of a UI claims administrator such as Gates McDonald, Employers Unity, Jon Jay, R.E. Harrington, or Frick. When a State sends a request for employment verification to a UI claims administrator, this misdirected mail presents a burden to the agent. Even if the agent forwards the mail to the employer, there is a delay. Some agents simply return the mail to the child support office, either because no employer is identified or because they lack the manpower to research each piece of misdirected mail.

In our conversation with UI claims administrators, child support offices, and SESA representatives, we have identified three possible sources of this problem:

When an employer hires a UI claims administrator, the agent typically submits its own "c/o" address as the employer's mailing address. In order to receive UI claims information quickly, an agent prefers to use its own mailing address rather than the employer's address that is appropriate for child support purposes.

The address that a SESA uses to send UI and QW data to the NDNH is the employer's "mailing address of record" rather than the employer's address that is appropriate for child support purposes. An NDNH match perpetuates this incorrect address (incorrect for child support purposes, that is), sending the match data (with the mailing address of the UI claims administrator) to the appropriate State.

This problem also appears in new hire reporting. Although an employer may be reporting its address on its new hire report to the State Directory of New Hires (SDNH), the SDNH is not submitting that address to the NDNH. Instead, the SDNH uses the FEIN to pull the address from another employer database housed at the state. The address pulled in this manner may not be the appropriate address for child support activities such as employment verification or income withholding.

[See attached Policy Information Query (PIQ) 99-07, which describes the legal requirement that each State Directory of New Hires use and transmit the information actually submitted by the employer. A SESA that eliminates data entry of the employer's address is operating contrary to the Social Security Act, section 453A.]

Proposed Solution

The purpose of this letter is to seek your participation in a conference call with OCSE and your State child support contact to help resolve this issue. We would like to discuss whether you would be able to send us (in your transmission of QW and UI data to your SDNH) the employer's address (for income-withholding purposes) rather than the "mailing address" of the employer's UI claims administrator.

Please contact Angela Kasey by January 21st at (202) 205-3423, akasey@acf.hhs.gov, and let her know if your agency is interested in participating in this conference call to improve the accuracy of information used for child support enforcement purposes.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation as we work to improve the lives of our nation’s children.

Sincerely,

David Gray Ross
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc:
IV-D Directors
New Hire Contacts
Regional Program Managers
Regional New Hire Contacts

Enclosure: Employer Address Issue Letter (26K M.S. Word Document)