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"This new online reporting system will provide a convenient,
accessible tool that will help employers to report their new
employees' information more quickly and easily," Blagojevich said.
"The sooner Illinois' child support enforcement officers have the
information they need to locate delinquent parents, the sooner they
can set up payments so children are being provided for the way they
should be." Blagojevich announced the new child support
enforcement program in his 2005 State of the State address as a
program designed to improve the coordination between the Illinois
Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which oversees child
support enforcement in the state, and the Department of Employment
Security, which tracks employment. With the help of the new
initiative, the state was able to collect a record $1 billion in
fiscal 2005.
"The New Hire program has been extremely effective, as we
continue to see an increase in the identification of delinquent
parents across the state as well as the record $1 billion we have
been able to collect in child support in 2005," said Barry S. Maram,
director of the Department of
Healthcare and Family Services. "We are reaching new
companies every day that previously were not reporting new hires,
and the online reporting system will only increase those numbers as
well as the efficiency of the process."
Reporting new hires is the most successful means of locating
parents for the establishment and collection of child support. The
new online reporting mechanism is part of a collaboration of the
departments of Employment Security and Healthcare and Family
Services, and it will provide a fast and accurate way for employers
to submit information overnight on new employees, which decreases
the amount of time it takes to locate an employer and send
notification to them that a new employee has a child support
obligation. The sooner the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services learns that someone has outstanding child support
obligations, the sooner an income withholding notice is sent to the
employer. Income withholding is the single most effective and
consistent collection method.
"This program's impact is an example of how the governor's focus
on increased coordination of departments benefits Illinois
families," said Brenda A. Russell, director of the Department of
Employment Security. "In addition, this new-hire data is used by
IDES to ensure workers are not both employed and drawing
unemployment."
Employers may also report new hires by mail, fax, e-mail or
through magnetic submission to the Department of Employment
Security. For information about reporting newly hired employees,
employers can visit
www.ilchildsuppport.com or
www.ides.state.il.us or call (800) 327-HIRE [4473].
[to top of second column in this article]
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Aside from the New Hire Initiative, Blagojevich has launched a
number of innovative and aggressive programs to improve collection
to help working parents, including a website that identifies
"deadbeat parents" who owe more than $5,000 in child support
payments, resulting in the collection of over $172,000 in back
payments. Also, the Department Healthcare and Family
Services received federal certification of its Key Information
Delivery System, the main computer for the child support process,
and the Sheridan Rehabilitation Project is helping ex-offenders
access jobs and training, so they can meet their child support
obligations. All child support enforcement services are free and
include automatic location of employers, automatic serving of income
withholding notices, and submission of child support debt to credit
reporting agencies and to the state and federal governments, which
can then intercept tax refunds, suspend or revoke professional and
occupational licenses, and deny passports. Information about
applying is available at
www.hfs.illinois.gov.
In addition to the new online reporting system, the New Hire
Initiative has been successfully reaching out to employers by:
- Distributing handbooks to all employers that report to the
Department of Employment Security, explaining the reporting and
wage-withholding requirements.
- Providing a toll-free number employers can call, (800)
327-HIRE, and a website, www.ides.state.il.us/
employer/newhire/general.asp, for information or
clarification about what the law requires.
- Hosting on-site education and training sessions for
employers through local chambers of commerce, newsletters and
trade association conferences.
The initiative allows employers to report new hires using one of
the following four methods, in addition to the new online method:
- Completing and submitting the new-hire reporting
form, provided by the Illinois Department of Employment
Security, via first-class mail or fax.
[To download Adobe Acrobat Reader for the
form, click
here.]
- Submitting copies of the employee's W-4 form via first-class
mail or fax, with all information completed legibly, including
the employer information.
- Submitting a separate listing of new employees via
first-class mail, fax or e-mail with the required data.
- Using magnetic submission of data by cartridge or diskette
(not by tape), reported twice monthly, not less than 12 or more
than 16 days apart.
[News release from the governor's
office]
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