labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The directory of new hired employees in the state of Montana is tied into the National Directory of New Hires, which is then tied into every directory of new hires across the United States. It’s an amazing database of information to be only set up in the last few years.

The whole purpose of the new hire reporting database, as we’ve discussed, is to track down negligent parents who do not pay their child support payments. By connecting all of the states together, the National Directory of New Hires is set up to track down parents who may not necessarily live in the same state as their children, which could be as many as 30 percent of all parents who owe child support payments.

All in all, this program is set to recover $6.4 billion in child support payments over the course of the next 10 years. That is billion with a B. Did you know, though, that before the federal government started with its own labor law campaign to track new employees in 1996, 26 states already had a new hire database set up?

The argument put up by the government, federal and Montana, is that these information requests will not put a burden on you. They say that you are already collecting a lot of this information in the employees’ tax forms and payroll deduction forms and employee applications. And this is true probably for most employers.

But what may not be taken into account is that all of these forms may not be organized in the same way at every employer. In fact, some employers in Montana may not be organized at all, so getting this information and keeping track of all these forms could be easier said than done for them.

The Montana (MT) Department of Human Resources is a key role player throughout our daily lives. Those that live here realize the need for employment that is not only safe and beneficial but that is fair as well. This board helps to provide those aspects to us. Yet, it provides much more as well. Businesses need to come to this department for aid in being licensed as well as get the necessary messages put in place to insure they are providing fair and safe employment. In addition, we often turn to this department for additional aid in such things as unemployment.

Yet, the Montana Department of Human Resources also provides a great deal of information and tools for just about any of us to take full advantage of. For example, to monitor our state’s economy, the department works with the numbers from unemployment (those that are currently receiving or have applied for unemployment) to determine the percentage of it in the state. In March of 2005, our unemployment rate was at 4.6 percent. Currently, the unemployment rate has dropped to just 3.5 percent, one of the lowest rates in the country, as of July of 2006. The national unemployment rate is that of 4.8 percent, significantly higher.

In addition, there have been over 36,000 jobs created within our state in the last five years, which also helps to better the well being of out work force. For those that are lacking in the employment field, the Montana Department of Human Resources also has several programs in place to aid in this. That includes 254 million dollars that have been earmarked for programs like Job Training, Dislocated Workers Programs and One Stop Career Centers, which all provide key skill training, education, as well as career development to all of us in the state. All of this plays a significant role in the well being of those that live here.