Wednesday, April 01, 2009
AMENDED VERSION OF SC CODE SECTION 63-17-1210 DOES NOT CONFORM TO FEDERAL LAW
The recently amended version of South Carolina Code Ann. ยง63-17-1210 (1976, as amended) titled "Employer new hire program" provides in relevant part:
The recently amended version of South Carolina Code Ann. ยง63-17-1210 (1976, as amended) titled "Employer new hire program" provides in relevant part:
(A) By January 1, 1996, the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Social Services shall create and develop an Employer New Hire Reporting program. The Employer New Hire Reporting program shall provide a means for employers to voluntarily assist in the state's efforts to locate absent parents who owe child support and collect child support from those parents by reporting information concerning newly hired and rehired employees directly to the division.(B) The following provisions apply to the Employer New Hire Reporting program: (1) An employer doing business in this State may participate in the Employer New Hire Reporting program by reporting to the Child Support Enforcement Division (emphasis added).
Clearly this program is voluntary, not mandatory as indicated on the South Carolina Child Support Enforcement Division website. That being the case, not only does the statute directly conflict with Federal Law, but no penalties can be levied for failure to comply with this statutory section. So why would employers go to all the trouble and expense of submitting this paperwork and both risk losing employees to incarceration and inviting government scrutiny of their employment practices? More important, why would the South Carolina General Assembly amend a decade old statute to eviscerate its effectiveness?
Maybe the Legislature's attitude is "So what if the State of South Carolina cannot locate the 'Deadbeats' and kids go hungry and mortgages go unpaid and college tuition is out of reach for thousands of South Carolina families who are receiving no financial support from the absentee parents?" We suspect, however, that the Legislature's attitude is, instead, "Now my friends in the business community will not have to deal with more government red tape."
In any event, somewhere some fat-cat contractor with political connections is smiling because he was able to finish his government project under budget and on time because he was able to hire "Deadbeats" and undocumented immigrant workers and pay them below market rate, secure in the knowledge that they would never complain and that there was no way that the State would ever be the wiser. And some child needlessly went to bed hungry.
Labels: Child Support Collection, New Hire Reporting
Comments:
<< Home
God forbid they make it mandatory. There are already too many restrictions on small businesses.
# posted by 
: 6:01 PM
: 6:01 PM
From the scnewhire.com site:
The penalty for an employer failing to report newly hired or rehired employees is:
$25 for the second offense and $25 for each offense thereafter; or
$500 for each and every offense, if the failure to report is the result of a conspiracy between the employer and the employee not to supply the required information or to supply false or incomplete information.
So how many fines have the levied and how much has been collected? Or is this just another way to "tax" business?
The penalty for an employer failing to report newly hired or rehired employees is:
$25 for the second offense and $25 for each offense thereafter; or
$500 for each and every offense, if the failure to report is the result of a conspiracy between the employer and the employee not to supply the required information or to supply false or incomplete information.
So how many fines have the levied and how much has been collected? Or is this just another way to "tax" business?
# posted by : 6:10 PM
: 6:10 PM
Until last year, filing was mandatory. Yesterday, we spoke to the number three man at the South Carolina CSED and he advised us that he was unaware that the Law had changed and that the CSED website was inaccurate. Additionally, we were advised by a South Carolina State Senator that the Amendment may not be legal. Specifically, he wrote "If a federal law conflicts with a state law, the federal law prevails." Federal Law requires that these forms be filed.
We are unaware of any fines ever being levied. And the fact that this Law was not enforced for 12 years is one reason so many South Carolinians receive Aid to Dependent Children. If the State cannot find the non-custodial parent, the State cannot make the non-custodial parent pay support.
Post a Comment
<< Home
