Yes.  An employer who has registered with Pennsylvania CareerLink may view (in part) data they have submitted through the web interface, subject to security and confidentiality requirements. To do so, the employer must login to the website (from the PA CareerLink public home page) using their Keystone Login Credentials, and view their Employer Home Page.  From the Report New Hires drop down menu at the top of their home page, the employer should select the Submitted Information link. The Search Submitted Information page will open, and the employer may then search for previously submitted records by new hire employee name, Social Security Number, or date. For assistance in using this feature, the employer should contact New Hire Customer Service.

Please note, anonymous (non-registered) employers cannot view information on previously submitted new hires, and should contact New Hire Customer Service directly for assistance.

No, terminated employees do not need to be reported to the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program.

However, if the terminated employee had a wage garnishment order in place for child support (due to an income withholding order issued either by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, or local court), then the employer must continue to withhold through the employee's final paycheck and immediately inform the county Domestic Relations Section (of the county that issued the income withholding order) that your company terminated the employee. Complete the Termination Notification on the last page of the IWO form (OMB No. 0970-0154), and return it to the IWO sender or submit the termination through e-IWO or electronic terminations, when available.

Note that if the employment is ending due to the closing of the business, the employer should follow the instructions given in the Income Withholding Order (which directs the employer to notify the sender [either the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, or local court] when an employee no longer works for them). Also, the support order has a legal notice that states the parties, within 7 days, must report any change in circumstance, including loss of income or employment. When this happens, the defendant is responsible for filing a modification to the order. At the modification conference/hearing a decision will be made whether or not the support order will be changed.

For more information on—or questions about—child support collections in Pennsylvania, please contact the Pennsylvania State [Child Support] Collections and Disbursement Unit, PASCDU, at 1-877-676-9580. For more information on—or questions about—the child support enforcement process in Pennsylvania, please refer to the Pennsylvania Child Support Program website, www.childsupport.state.pa.us, or contact the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement at 1-800-932-2011.

Yes. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Title 23, Chapter 43, Sections 4391 through 4396 requires that all employers report specific information about their newly-hired employees to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Under both federal and state law--the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, 42 U.S.C. 653a and Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 23 (Domestic Relations), Chapter 43 (Support Matters Generally), Subchapter F: New Hire Reporting (Sections 4391 through 4396) --all employers are required to report this information on their newly hired, re-hired, and temporary employees to their state new hire directory. Pennsylvania's New Hire Reporting Program is the mechanism for doing so; the subchapters within the Pennsylvania statute cover: general definitions; employer reporting of data; use of the information; guidelines on reporting; data confidentiality; and penalties for employer noncompliance and misuse of the information.

All employers doing business in Pennsylvania--whether they are large or small employers, for-profit or non-profit, public or private employers--must report their new hire information to the Commonwealth.

No. Employer-submitted new hire data on individuals are strictly confidential, and under law are not able to be disclosed to the public. Please contact your local Pennsylvania County Domestic Relations Office, or County Assistance Office, for help and further information. A listing of Pennsylvania Domestic Relations Offices in your local area may be found online on the PA Department of Human Services Child Support home page, at:
http://www.humanservices.state.pa.us/csws/.

A listing of Pennsylvania County Assistance Offices by address and contact information may be found online through the PA Department of Human Services website, at:
https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Assistance/Pages/CAO-Contact.aspx.

Employers may report their new hire information by either manual or electronic means. However, electronic reporting methods--especially online reporting through the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program website at PA CareerLink (www.pacareerlink.pa.gov)--is the preferred method of submitting new hire data, because it reduces processing time and eliminates paper and postage costs. Note: employers are not required to register with PA CareerLink to report their new hires through the Program website.

To report their new hires through PA CareerLink at www.pacareerlink.pa.gov, first select "I am an Employer" under the "Let's Get You to the Right Place" banner. Next, select "Report a New Hire" under the "I'd Like To" banner on the Employer Services page. Finally, chose a reporting method, either manual data entry, file upload, or Secure File Transfer. For any of these choices, press the appropriate link--either "Start Reporting" or "Request Credentials" --and follow the instructions given as each page opens up while navigating the website.

For employers who use a third-party payroll service, the payroll service may report the employers' new hire data on their behalf.

Besides online reporting, employers may also submit their new hire information via: Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP); by toll-free fax; or by standard postal mail. Employers reporting via fax or mail may submit either IRS Form W-4, the standard Commonwealth New Hire Reporting Form, or a suitable substitute. Note, when using IRS Form W-4: date of hire, contact name and contact phone number must be listed separate, and the signature date is not a valid date of hire. Employers should be sure to complete all employee and employer information, including lines 10 & 12 of the form.
 

Additional details for employers on new hire reporting are also available within the PA CareerLink Help Center. To access the Help Center, press the "Help" link located at the top of each page within the PA CareerLink website, and then scroll to the list of new hire reporting topics found under "List of FAQ Topics," “List of How To's,” or "List of Miscellaneous Documents" found within the Help Center. Press the “+” beside each topic to expand, view, and download (save and print) the information. For additional information, please contact New Hire Customer Service at 1-888-PAHIRES, or 1-888-724-4737.

New Hire Reporting is a process by which employers report certain required information on all employees hired on or after January 1, 1998. Under both federal and state law--the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, 42 U.S.C. 653a and Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 23, Chapter 43, Sections 4391 through 4396--all employers are required to report this information on their newly hired, re-hired, and temporary employees to their state new hire directory. Pennsylvania's New Hire Reporting Program is the mechanism for doing so.

From the new hire information submitted by employers, Pennsylvania matches against open child support case records to locate non-custodial parents, establish child support orders, or enforce existing orders. Pennsylvania also transmits the new hire data to the National Directory of New Hires for matching against child support orders from other states.

Finally, the new hire information is used to detect possible fraud activity in the Unemployment Compensation (UC) and Workers' Compensation (WC) benefit programs, and aid in identifying and recovering overpayments.

The Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program recommends that employers submit their new hire reports by electronic means, because these methods are not only more secure and more efficient, they also save employers time and postage costs. Through the program's home page within the Pennsylvania CareerLink website (located at www.pacareerlink.pa.gov), employers may: data enter their new hires records; or upload their new hire information online securely (with data validation and customer service support readily available); or choose to register and report using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Reports are processed much sooner through online reporting compared to traditional paper or fax reporting, so an employer will receive notification the next business day if there are any problems with their new hire data--versus potentially several weeks through the slower and less secure paper and fax methods. Electronic means also save employers on the costs of creating and mailing paper forms or fax submissions.

The Commonwealth Workforce Development System (CWDS) is Pennsylvania’s CareerLink One-Stop shop for tens of thousands of jobseekers, employers, and training and service providers. Located at www.pacareerlink.pa.gov, Pennsylvania's PA CareerLink website provides access to Pennsylvania workforce development services for participants and employers. The site also links jobseekers and others with employment, training, and independent living services provided by several agencies within the Departments of Labor & Industry and Human Services.

As a partner member of CWDS, the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program collects 2.8 to 3.0 million new hire records annually from employers, resulting in savings in excess of $34 million per year to employers and families in Pennsylvania, through wage garnishment for child support collections and recovery of fraud overpayments in the Commonwealth’s Unemployment Compensation (UC) and Workers’ Compensation (WC) programs.

No. Employers are not required to register with PA CareerLink to report their new hires through the website. However, should they wish to take full advantage of the website features (e.g., post job openings, search and screen job applicants, and so forth), employers will need to create an approved account, be assigned Keystone ID login credentials, and proceed to their website-assigned homepage. Through their assigned employer homepage, employers may:

* Create, post, and edit job openings at their company;

* Search for and hire qualified PA CareerLink® participant-jobseekers to fill available job openings; and

* Automatically report their new employees as new hires to the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program, when they fill their available job postings with PA CareerLink® participants.

Employers should visit the Pennsylvania CareerLink Home page at www.pacareerlink.pa.gov and press the red "Register As A New User" tab found at the upper right corner of the page to begin the employer registration process. First, the "Register For An Account" page appears; the employer should select the "Employer" tile to identify themselves so that the correct role (employer) is assigned to them in PA CareerLink. Next, the "Employer Registration: Identifying Information" page appears; the employer should carefully read the instructions and complete the information as requested.

IMPORTANT: To ensure as an employer you are given the best possible service while using PA CareerLink, it is critical that the security and confidentiality of your assigned Keystone Login Credentials (username and password) be maintained. Please make it a habit to routinely verify that the credentials you were provided at account setup are valid, secure, and being used only by the  authorized employee staff person associated with your employer profile. Never share Keystone Login Credentials among unauthorized employees: doing so is a serious breach of data security and confidentiality, and could lead to the loss, corruption, or theft of your sensitive employer and employee information, including FEIN, employee SSNs, names, addresses, or other vital payroll or financial information associated with your employer profile.

Keystone Login Credentials are assigned (by request) to each authorized individual employee staff person associated with the employer's profile, with each authorized person having their own valid keystone login username and password. They are not intended to be shared among staff, and should not be done so. For more information or questions, please contact your Employer Services or Employer Business Team representative at your local PA CareerLink office.

 

Attachment of a new hire report in excel or text format to an email submitted to the program is NOT a secure method of data transmission, and is not approved by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Office of Information Technology Acceptable Use policies on data encryption, transmission, and storage of confidential information. Effective June 30, 2012, submission of new hire information by employers using this method is prohibited.

Employers should contact the New Hire Reporting Program Customer Service at (888) PAHIRES or (888) 724-4737 to learn more about submitting new hire information using an approved, secure electronic method.

Employers may also visit the Pennsylvania CareerLink Help Center for more information on new hire reporting by these approved electronic methods. To access the Help Center, press the "Help" link located at the top of each page within the PA CareerLink website, and scroll to the list of new hire reporting topics found under "List of FAQ Topics," "List of How To's," or "List of Miscellaneous Documents" found within the Help Center page. Press the "+" beside each new hire topic to expand, view and download (save and print) the information contained within each item. 

Rehires are considered to be "new-hires" whenever the employee is not compensated by the employer for a period of 30 consecutive days, regardless of the reason, including layoffs. The hire date reported by the employee as part of the new hire report on the rehired employee should be the return to work date of the employee.

Note, this timeframe for reporting rehires in Pennsylvania is more stringent than Federal legislation. Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Extension Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-40), which amends section 453A(a)(2) of the Social Security Act effective April 21, 2012, "new Hires" and rehires are defined as follows:

 (a) Definition of Newly Hired Employee- Section 453A(a)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653a(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

 (C) NEWLY HIRED EMPLOYEE- The term “newly hired employee” means an employee who—

 (i) has not previously been employed by the employer; or

 (ii) was previously employed by the employer but has been separated from such prior employment for at least 60 consecutive days.

Depending upon the method by which the employer submitted their new hire information to the Program, the employer may receive verification that their new hire data was received and processed, or may be contacted by the Program only if there is an error in their report. By reporting method--
* For employers who submit their new hire data via online reporting through manual data entry or file upload: a confirmation page is readily available for printing or download once the data are submitted;

* For employers who attempt to submit via attachment of an excel or text file to an email: they will be provided notification by the Program that this method is no longer valid (effective June 30, 2012), and are advised to submit their new hire reports through file upload;

* For employers who submit via fax: they will receive local confirmation that their fax was successfully transmitted, and should expect to be contacted by the Program only in the event that the new hire data they submitted had errors;

* For employers who submit via Secure File Transfer Protocol: they should expect to be contacted by the Program only in the event that the new hire data they submitted had errors; and

* For employers who submit data using the approved Commonwealth New Hire Reporting Form (or similar form) through standard postal mail: they should allow 5-7 business days for transit and processing, and should expect to be contacted by the Program only in the event that the new hire data they submitted had errors.

Although New Hire Customer Service staff are subject-matter experts in new hire reporting, to provide the best possible customer service experience to employers, they will attempt to address employer questions about related programs, if possible, or will seek to guide the employer to the correct resource for additional information. Employers’ questions usually include the following:

* For employer questions related to services available to them through the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I), employers should visit the L&I website located at: www.dli.pa.gov.

From the top navigation menu, select "BUSINESSES," and under the cascading drop down menu, specific services offered  to employers through the department, including information on unemployment compensation liability, taxes, benefit information, and the appeals process, and more;

  * For employer questions related to workforce development and services offered through PA CareerLink other than new hire reporting, employers should visit the Employer Services web pages within PA CareerLink at:
https://www.pacareerlink.pa.gov/jponline/Common/LandingPage/Employer

and scroll down the page to view available services;

* For questions related to Child Support Enforcement, wage garnishments, Income Withholding Orders and other information available from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, employers should visit the PA Child Support website, located at: 
https://www.humanservices.state.pa.us/csws/

and select "Employers" tab from the navigation tabs at the top of the page, to view employer-specific services regarding child support enforcement;

 * For questions related to starting a business in Pennsylvania, registration and completion of all related forms and paperwork, employers should visit the Labor & Industry website at www.dli.pa.gov. There, select the 'BUSINESSES' link from the top menu bar, then select the "PA Open For Business" link from the cascading menu to view specific services for employers on starting a business in Pennsylvania. The PA Open For Business website itself is located at:
https://business.pa.gov/.

No. Only a nine (9) digit Social Security Number as issued and validated by the Social Security Administration is allowed for new hire reporting purposes. Employers should not report an employee who does not have a valid Social Security Number. Instead, the employee may be reported once the employee receives their Social Security Number. The Social Security Administration issues three types of valid Social Security cards, all showing the employee’s name and Social Security number. These types are:

* Card that displays the employee’s name and Social Security number, and allows the employee to work without restriction. It is issued to: U.S. citizens; people lawfully admitted to the United States on a permanent basis

* Card that displays the employee’s name and Social Security Number and notes, “VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS [Department of Homeland Security] AUTHORIZATION.” This type of card is issued to people lawfully admitted to the United States on a temporary basis who have DHS authorization to work

* Card that displays the employee’s name and Social Security Number and notes, “NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT.” This type of card issued to: people from other countries who: (a) are lawfully admitted to the United States without work authorization from DHS, but with a valid non-work reason for needing a Social Security number; or, (b) need a number because of a federal law requiring a Social Security number to get a benefit or service.

Effective June 25, 2011, the Social Security Administration assigns Social Security Numbers randomly, and allows for the assignment of area numbers between 734 and 749 and above 772 through the 800s.

[This answer is from the PA Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (PA Child Support Enforcement Program)]: [Note that] the amount of the wage attachment is based upon what the amount of the support obligation is. If the support obligation amount is modified, then so is the wage attachment. The DRS [Domestic Relations Section within each County] is the responsible maintainer of the data within the system [and is responsible for the modification process].
The order to attach is a federal form that all counties must use. Some employers do not receive hardcopy [notification to modify an existing wage attachment], as electronic withholding orders are in place. Regardless whether the order [was] issued electronically or by paper, the form is marked as an amended withholding when the wage attachment amount needs to modified by the employer. The DRS will mail the amended wage attachment to the employer or the amended attachment can be modified electronically and sent to the employer.

 For additional information, employers should visit the Employer Services web page within the PA Child Support Program website.

The Pennsylvania CareerLink® website is focused on employment services offered to both qualified job seekers looking for work, and employers posting jobs. Through PA CareerLink®, employers may: manage their company profile; create, post, and edit job openings at their company; search for qualified PA CareerLink® participant-jobseekers, get job candidate recommendations, and hire those persons to fill available job openings; and automatically report their new employees as new hires to the Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting Program.

For additional information on services offered to employers within PA CareerLink®, please visit the Employer Services page located at: 

Yes.  Employers must report any employee who was not paid, but remains on the payroll during a break in service or gap in pay of thirty (30) consecutive days or more, and then returns to work. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Upon the employee’s return to work, the employer must notify the New Hire Reporting Program of the return (rehire) with the employee’s return to work date. Please note: because Short Term Disability Pay is considered to be a third party pay arrangement and, as such,  does not qualify as pay received for work performed by the employee for the employer, this necessitates that the employee must be reported as a rehire upon their return to work.

No, submission of new hire data via email attachment of a data file—or including new hire data within the body of an email message—and submitting the email to the New Hire Reporting Program, is prohibited. Employers attempting to submit data to the Program using this method will be promptly contacted by Customer Service Staff, and instructed to resubmit the information via a preferred submission method. These preferred submission methods include: secure file transfer protocol (SFTP, for employers registered to use this method); data entry or file upload (for CWDS-registered employers) or data entry through the new hire screens within the CWDS website (for non-registered employers).

No, employers are prohibited from attempting to submit new hire data to the Program via telephone or voicemail message, under any circumstances. Employers attempting to submit data to the Program using this method will be promptly contacted by Customer Service Staff, and instructed to resubmit the information via a preferred submission method. These preferred submission methods include: secure file transfer protocol (SFTP, for employers registered to use this method); data entry; or file upload through the Program website.