State contracts for campaign to compel employers to follow federal law
by Andy Marso, KHI News Service
Two Kansas government agencies are teaming up on a $50,000 ad campaign urging employers to follow federal child support law.
The law highlighted in the campaign requires employers to report new hires to the Kansas Department of Labor so the department can begin withholding any child support the new employee owes.
The Department for Children and Families (DCF), which handles child support enforcement in the state, partnered with the labor department to hire an Overland Park advertising firm to create a series of television and print spots reminding employers to report their new hires.
“Right now there’s some great employers who do report their new hires but some who don’t,” said Trisha Thomas, DCF’s director of child support services. “We just want to educate those folks.”
Thomas said about 20,000 Kansas employers currently report, but she was unsure how many do not.
States set their own penalties for not following the reporting law, with some levying fines.
Right now there’s no penalty for non-compliance in Kansas. Thomas said the state is not considering putting one in place, because she believes most of those failing to report are not doing so maliciously.
“We want to work with the employers,” Thomas said.
Missouri has traditionally levied no fines either, but the state’s Department of Social Services is in the process of implementing some.
Intentional failure to report new hires in Missouri will soon result in a $25 fine. An employer who conspires with an employee to flout the reporting law faces a $350 fine.
Theresa Freed, a spokeswoman for DCF, said the agency got five or six bids for the Kansas ad campaign contract.
JNA Advertising was the winning bidder. John Nohe, the company’s president and CEO, unveiled three posters Friday that will be used in the campaign. One featured a robust stalk of broccoli with the text “You can’t make sure Kansas kids eat their vegetables. But you can make sure they have the support they need.”
The bottom of the poster directs employers to a reporting website which is not yet live.
Employers can currently enter their new hires digitally on a Department of Labor web page.
“We think it’s going to have a good impact,” said Nohe, whose company also handles advertising for the Kansas Lottery.
Nohe’s team plans to roll out ads at 17 TV stations across the state, with the air time heavily discounted because they are public service announcements.
Thomas said she hopes the ad campaign will lead to “millions” in additional child support revenue.
She said the money for the campaign came from the child support services budget, which is two-thirds federally funded.
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