49.155(7m)(a)
(a) The department shall by rule establish policies and procedures permitting the department to do all of the following if a child care provider submits false, misleading, or irregular information to the department or if a child care provider fails to comply with the terms of the program under this section and fails to provide to the satisfaction of the department an explanation for the noncompliance:
49.155(7m)(b)
(b) The penalties under par.
(a) may be imposed on any child care provider subject to this section. Any officer, director, or employee of a child care provider that is a corporation, and any member, manager, or employee of a child care provider that is a limited liability company, who holds at least 20 percent of the ownership interest of the corporation or limited liability company and who has control or supervision of or responsibility for operating the child care business, including reporting for and receipt of payments under this section, may be found personally liable for such amounts, including overpayments made under this section, if the business, corporation, or limited liability company is unable to pay such amounts to the department. Ownership interest of a corporation or limited liability company includes ownership or control, directly or indirectly, by legally enforceable means or otherwise, by the individual, by the individual's spouse or child, by the individual's parent if the individual is under age 18, or by a combination of 2 or more of them, and such ownership interest of a parent corporation or limited liability company of which the corporation or limited liability company unable to pay such amounts is a wholly owned subsidiary. The personal liability of the officers, directors, and employees of a corporation and of the members, managers, and employees of a limited liability company as provided in this paragraph is an independent obligation and survives dissolution, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, assignment for the benefit of creditors, judicially confirmed extension or composition, or any analogous situation of the corporation or limited liability company.
49.155 Annotation
It was reasonable for the Department of Children and Families to construe sub. (1m) (a) 2. as limiting eligible employment to only “qualified" employers, meaning legitimate employers with a verified legal status. It is reasonable to expect that eligibility for child-care benefits requires legitimate, documented employment with an employer who complies with legal employment requirements. Mata v. Department of Children & Families,
2014 WI App 69,
354 Wis. 2d 486,
849 N.W.2d 908,
13-2013.
