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Payroll Professionals and the Child Support Process
The American public is more aware than ever of the important role child support plays in creating a stable environment for families. And today, employers in general and Payroll Professionals in particular are the unsung heroes in the child support process. They play a key role in making sure that families get the child support payments to which they are entitled. According to Donna Shalala, former Secretary of Health and Human Services:
Every day Payroll Professionals assure that orders are implemented and that information on newly hired employees is forwarded to our National Directory of New Hires. We count on your fine work in making child support a reality for many of our nation's children. Currently, over 70% of child support is paid through wage withholding dollars that are helping children grow up with financial security.
Role of Employers
- Withholding child support payments from the pay of designated employees and sending that money off to designated recipients. Carrying out court orders for medical support for an employee's dependents and enrolling the employee's dependents in the company's health plan, if ordered to do so;
- Providing information on their newly hired
workers to state agencies. This information is quickly matched
against a nationwide database listing all people who owe
child support. Once a match is found, the employer is notified
and the withholding process is launched.
These procedures are most often carried out by payroll department personnel.
Benefits of Direct Withholding
The American Payroll Association is extremely proud of
its role in making sure that employers understand their responsibility
in the child support process. We believe that the direct withholding
process helps reduce stress for parents who owe child support
as well as for the families that will receive the money. By
withholding the child support payments directly from an employee's
pay and sending them to the proper recipient — most often
a state child support disbursements unit (SDU) — employers
relieve the noncustodial parent of the responsibility for making
sure a payment gets to a child's custodial parent on time. (Parents
who make child support payments late may face a hefty fine.)
Meanwhile, the custodial parent is assured money for a child's
food, clothing, and other necessities.
Taxpayers Benefit Too
Taxpayers also benefit from the direct withholding process.
Direct withholding streamlines the payment process and eliminates
the opportunity for absent parents to delay or neglect payment
responsibilities. In all too many cases, families who are owed
child support but don't receive it from an absent parent are
forced to seek taxpayer-funded public assistance. On the other
hand, most families who receive the child support they are owed
are able to remain financially independent.
Medical Insurance Also Covered
In many instances employers will be responsible for withholding
from an employee's pay not only cash child support payments,
but money that will be directed specifically to cover the medical
insurance costs of that employee's dependents. Employers required
to do this will receive an order from the court or child support
enforcement agency telling them to do so. A child who has health
insurance is much more likely to get quality medical care, to
stay healthy, and to avoid needing publicly provided medical
care.
Reporting Newly Hired Workers
New hire reporting represents an additional responsibility for
employers in the child support enforcement process. While some
states had been attempting to locate noncustodial parents for
several years, in 1996 Congress ordered all states to begin
new hire reporting. Once employers provide information on their
new hires to states, the states, in turn, share this information
with a national database. This process has enabled enforcement
officials to identify hundreds of thousands of noncustodial
parents and get them on a child support payment plan.
More Information
Office of Child Support Enforcement Website
State Child Support Offices. Most states sponsor help lines. Locate them through:
APA's
State New Hire Page Links and phone numbers for state child
support agencies.
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