In the past two weeks, two different clients–one old, one new– told me that they had never heard of new hire reporting. So, I figured it was time for a blog post on the subject. Here are the basics:
Under New Jersey and the federal law, all public, private, non-profit, and government employers are required to report within 20 days:
- New employees: All employees who reside or work in New Jersey. Employees should be reported even if they work only one day.
- Re-hires or recalled employees: Employers must report re-hires, or employees who return to work after being laid off, furloughed, separated, granted a leave without pay, or terminated from employment. Employers must also report any employee who remains on the payroll during a break in service or gap in pay, and then returns to work. This includes teachers, substitutes, seasonal workers, etc.
- Temporary employees: Temporary agencies–not their clients– are responsible for reporting new employees. Employees need to be reported only once; they do not need to be re-reported each time they report to a new client. They do need to be reported as a re-hire if the worker has a break in service or gap in wages from the temp agency.
- Contracted Entities: State law requires that an independent contractor transacting business in New Jersey be reported as a new hire.
Failure to report a new employee could result in a fine up to $25 per violation.
Why do state and federal law require reporting new hires? New Jersey’s child support computer system matches new hire information against open child support cases to locate alleged fathers/non-custodial parents to establish paternity and child support orders, and enforce existing orders. Once these matches are done, the new hire information is sent to the National Directory of New Hires and is used by Child Sspport agencies nationwide. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have new hire reporting laws.
New hire information can also be used by states to help detect and prevent fraudulent payments to recipients of unemployment insurance, workers compensation, and welfare benefits.
Detailed information, including frms and FAQs, for the NJ New Hire Reporting System can be foiund at: http://newhire-reporting.com/NJ-Newhire/Default.aspx.
