Section 19-11-9.2. Duty of employers to report hiring or rehiring of persons

   (a) Employers doing business in the State of Georgia shall report to the Georgia state support registry managed by the Department of Human Services:

   (1) The hiring of any person who resides or works in this state to whom the employer anticipates paying earnings; and

   (2) The hiring or return to work of any employee who was laid off, furloughed, separated, granted leave without pay, or terminated from employment.

(b) Reserved.

(c) Employers may report by mailing the employee's copy of the W-4 form or other means authorized by the registry which will result in timely reporting. Employers shall submit reports within ten days of the hiring, rehiring, or return to work of the employee. The report shall contain:

   (1) The employee's name, address, social security number, and date of birth; and

   (2) The employer's name, address, and employment security number or unified business identifier number.

An employer who fails to report as required under this Code section shall be given a written warning.

(d) Except that access to information shall be made available as provided in subsections (f), (g), and (h) of this Code section, the registry shall retain the information for a particular employee only if the registry is responsible for establishing, enforcing, or collecting a support obligation or debt of the employee. If the employee does not owe such an obligation or a debt, the registry shall not create a record regarding the employee and the information contained in the notice shall be promptly destroyed.

(e) The department in cooperation with any other affected department may adopt rules to establish additional exemptions from this Code section if needed to reduce unnecessary or burdensome reporting.

(f) The department shall be entitled to have access to this employment registry for the limited purposes of determining eligibility for needs based programs provided by the department, including, but not limited to, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the food stamp program.

(g) The Department of Labor shall be entitled to have access to this employment registry for the limited purpose of determining the employment status of persons applying for or receiving unemployment compensation benefits and for the collection of delinquent unemployment contributions and overpayment of unemployment benefits.

(h) The Department of Human Services shall administer this registry and shall provide computer access to the authorized users. The Department of Human Services shall be authorized to apportion the costs of the registry between the users.

Code 1981, § 19-11-9.2, enacted by Ga. L. 1993, p. 1983, § 2; Ga. L. 1995, p. 603, § 4.1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1021, § 7; Ga. L. 1997, p. 1613, § 26; Ga. L. 1998, p. 567, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1247, § 6; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 2-2/HB 228.