Date & Time Location
August 7, 2000 Room 371, G.E.F. #1
Monday 201 E. Washington Ave.
1:00 p.m. MADISON, WI
August 8, 2000 Room 136
Tuesday Waukesha State Office Bldg.
10:30 a.m. 141 N. W. Barstow St.
WAUKESHA, WI
August 10, 2000 Suite B
Thursday Fox Valley Hearing Office
10:30 a.m. 2900 N. Mason St.
APPLETON, WI
August 22, 2000 Suite 1 (Hearing Room 2)
Tuesday Eau Claire Hearing Office
11:00 a.m. 715 S. Barstow St.
EAU CLAIRE, WI
Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearings and will be afforded the opportunity to make oral presentations of their positions. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their facts, views, and suggested rewording in writing.
If you have special needs or circumstances that may make communication or accessibility difficult at the hearing, please call (608) 267-9403 at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. Accommodations such as ASL interpreters, English translators, or materials in audiotape format will be made available on request to the fullest extent possible.
Analysis Prepared by the Dept. of Workforce Development
Statutory authority: ss. 103.05 (3), 103.005 and 227.11
Statute interpreted by the rule: s. 103.05
Relevant federal law: 42 USC 653a (a) (1) (A)
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) directed each state to establish a process by which employers report information about employees shortly after the date of hire for the purpose of assisting child support agencies in locating parents or putative fathers. In response, the State of Wisconsin enacted s. 103.05, Stats., which directed the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) to establish and operate a hiring reporting system that includes a state directory of new hires.
Employers report new hire information to the Department of Workforce Development Unemployment Insurance Division (DWD-UID), which administers the state new hire directory. When employers report new hires to DWD-UID, the names are checked against a list of persons sought to ascertain paternity or who owe child support. Matches are referred to the state Bureau of Child Support. The state directory is also transmitted to a National Directory so that it can be similarly used by each state to locate parents who have moved to other states.
Most employees are considered new hires when they report for work the first time or when they return to work after an unpaid absence of more than 90 days. Poll workers, who generally only work at the polls a few days a year and who tend to do so repeatedly, will be considered newly-hired the first time they work for an employer but not each subsequent time they work at the polls for that same employer. Similarly, substitute teachers will be considered newly-hired the first time they work for a particular employer during a school year but not each subsequent time they are provided a substitute teaching assignment by that employer during that school year.
Required information in a new hire report includes the following data elements: (1) employee name, (2) employee address, (3) employee social security number, (4) employer name, (5) employer address, (6) employer's Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), (7) date the employee started work, and (8) employee's date of birth. Additional required information of multi-state employers who choose Wisconsin as the sole state to which it reports is the state in which the employee will work, if other than Wisconsin.
An employer may fulfill its reporting requirement for a newly-hired employee using the following formats: (1) on paper by submitting a paper report containing all listed elements, (2) on paper by submitting a completed copy of the employee's federal W-4 form, (3) on paper by submitting a copy of the employee's Wisconsin WT-4 form containing all listed elements, or (4) electronically, as prescribed by the Department.
An employer who files a new hire report by submitting a federal W-4 form in which the first six elements listed in the rule have been completed has satisfied the reporting requirement.
The Department may waive the date of birth reporting requirement if the employer is unable to provide it.
An employer must file new hire reports within 20 days after the newly-hired employee starts work.
An employer with employees in more than one state, that is, a multi-state employer, may report all new hires to a single state. Multi-state employers choosing the single-state reporting option must submit written notice of the state to which they choose to report to the federal Department of Health and Human services.
Any person who violates any provision of this rule may be subject to penalties provided under s. 103.05, Stats.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
The proposed rules impose no significant impact on small businesses, as defined under s. 227.114, Stats., since the requirement of employers to file new hire reports is already mandated by federal and state laws. Six of the required elements listed in the proposed rules are specifically required by the federal legislation creating the new hire program. While “date of birth" is listed as an additional required element, the Department will waive that requirement if it determines that the employer is unable to obtain it. “Date of hire" and “state in which the employe will work, if other than Wisconsin" are listed as required elements only to further the goals of the federal and state legislation and are not required if the employer fulfills the new hire filing requirement by submitting a completed W-4 form. These W-4 forms are already required for all businesses with employees under the Internal Revenue Code and therefore do not impose additional paperwork.
Fiscal Estimate
The proposed rules have no fiscal impact beyond what has already been identified in the state's budget process. Federal legislation required the implementation of the new hire reporting system. Employers' voluntary compliance with the request to provide the dates of birth for newly-hired employees to verify their identities reduces costs to governmental units and employers while protecting employees who do not actually have child support obligations from unwarranted legal or administrative action. Since existing state legislation requires that the state offer both paper and electronic reporting, the numerous options of reporting provided in the proposed rules do not create additional impact.
Contact Information
Michelle Kho
Unemployment Insurance Division
Dept. of Workforce Development
P.O. Box 7905
Madison, WI 53707-7905
Telephone (608) 266-6684
Written Comments
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address no later than Thursday, August 24, 2000, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Text of Rule
SECTION 1. Chapter DWD 42 is created to read:
Chapter DWD 42
STATE DIRECTORY OF NEW HIRES
DWD 42.01 Purpose. (1) Federal law (42 USC 653a (a) (1) (A)) requires each state to establish a state directory of new hires that contains information reported by employers about each newly hired employe and requires employers to report this information. Sec. 103.05, Stats., implemented the federal new hire reporting requirements by creating a state directory of new hires and requiring employers to report information to the department about each newly hired employe.
(2) This chapter specifies the information that employers must provide, the procedures by which employers may comply with the new hire reporting requirements, and the penalties for violating this rule.
DWD 42.02 Definitions. In this chapter:
(1) “Department" means the department of workforce development or its authorized agent.
(2) “Employe" means an individual who is an employe within the meaning of chapter 24 of the internal revenue code of 1986 (26 USC 3401 et seq.) but does not include an individual performing intelligence or counterintelligence functions for a federal or state agency if the head of such agency has determined that reporting pursuant to s. DWD 42.01 with respect to such individual could endanger the individual's safety or compromise an ongoing investigation or intelligence mission.
(3) “Employer" means a person who is an employer within the meaning of chapter 24 of the internal revenue code of 1986 (26 USC 3401(d)) and includes any governmental entity and any labor organization.
(4) “Federal employer identification number" means the identifying number assigned to the employer under s. 6109 of the internal revenue service code of 1986 (26 USC 6109).
(5) “Labor organization" means an organization that is a labor organization within the meaning of section 2(5) of the national labor relations act (29 USC 152(5)) and includes any hiring hall or other organization that is used by the labor organization and an employer to carry out requirements of an agreement described in section 8(f)(3) of the national labor relations act (29 USC 159(f)(3)) between the labor organization and the employer.
(6) “Multi-state employer" means an employer that employs individuals in Wisconsin and in at least one other state.
(7) “Newly hired employe" means:
(a)
An employe who reports for work for the first time.
(b) An employe, other than a poll worker or a substitute teacher, who is rehired, recalled or returns to work after an unpaid absence of more than 90 days.
(c) A poll worker who the employer has never reported to the state directory of new hires as a newly hired employe.
(d) A substitute teacher who performs services for the employer but who the employer has not reported to the state directory of new hires as newly hired during the current school year.
(8) “Poll worker" means a person who staffs a polling place on election day to assist in holding the election.
(9) “State directory of new hires" means an automated directory containing information supplied by employers about each newly hired employe, pursuant to s. 103.05, Stats.
DWD 42.03 Reporting requirements. (1) REPORT CONTENTS. Except as provided in sub. (2)(b) and s. DWD 42.04(b), each employer that has one or more employes who perform services in Wisconsin shall file a report containing the following information with the department:
(a) Newly hired employe's name.
(b) Newly hired employe's address.
(c) Newly hired employe's social security number.
(d) Employer's name.
(e) Employer's payroll address for the newly hired employe.
(f) Employer's federal employer identification number.
(g) Date the newly hired employe started work.
(h)
Employe's date of birth.
(2) REPORT FORMAT. (a) An employer may file new hire reports in any of the following ways:
1. Electronically, as prescribed by the department.
2. On paper by submitting a copy of the newly hired employe's completed WT-4 form (Employe's Wisconsin Withholding Exemption Certificate/New Hire Reporting).
