Overview
The Department subscribes to Equifax Workforce Solutions, an employment verification service, called The Work Number. The Work Number provides employment information and verification of wages. The information is considered to be from a trusted source and can be used in eligibility determinations with no additional verification required.
Inquiry access to The Work Number Express service is also be available to selected individuals, supervisors and TAO managers.
Employment information for over 2500 employers, 220 million records and over 1/3 of the US workforce is available through The Work Number website. You should be aware that even if a match is not found, it does not indicate that the client is not employed.
Overview of changes affecting TAO processing
BEACON functionality was added to integrate the work number process in the following workflows:
Request for Assistance;
Case Maintenance;
Reevaluation;
Extension Request;
Reinstatement; and
Web Application.
Upon entering the workflows the following automated activities occur:
A real-time, web-service request is made to The Work Number database during specific workflows activities.
Informational messages are displayed when entering the Income and Expenses Q and A Navigator and Earned Income pages if employment information was found.
The employment data from The Work Number database is copied and displayed on the new External Agency – Earned Income page.
You must review the data that was found. You are able to copy the new employment or update earnings on an existing employment to the Earned Income page, or ignore the data.
You must update the Required Action field on the External Agency – Earned Income page to disposition the employment data that was found.
The verification for the earnings, if copied to the Earned Income page, will be marked as electronically validated by The Work Number when the Earned Income page is completed.
You will be prevented from completing the Interview Wrapup process until the employment information identified on the External Agency – Earned Income is dispositioned.
A Has Employment column that indicates that there is work number information that has not been dispositioned will be added to the following views:
Pending Applications/ Reinstatements;
Reevaluation Due;
Reevaluation Due – Interim Report;
Pending TAFDC Extensions; and
the Monthly Reporting Status.
A warning message displays if you subsequently select a workflow on the ECF/Workflow tab for a case with undispositioned Work Number data.
Language specific to the use of The Work Number information will be added to EBC notices when income changes are used in the calculation and the income is verified by Electronically validated by The Work Number.
Changes to Existing Functionality
Client Search
A Work Number icon was added to the Client Search tool bar to allow users statewide with a user capability of External Match – Earned Income Data Viewer to access The Work Number information. A view-only version of the External Agency – Earned Income page will display any employment data that was found.
ECF/Workflow tab
When at least one client has employment data identified through The Work Number process, and that data has not been dispositioned, the following message will be displayed when a Workflow type is selected and the Go button is clicked:
“Client(s) in the Household have Employment data reported by The Work Number. Please review the data by clicking on the ‘Ext Data…’ button on the Earned Income page.”
AU Composition Results
A real-time request will be sent to The Work Number for all pending clients over the age of 16 when the page is saved and you are performing one of the following activities:
Request for Assistance workflow for a new or reopened case.
Web Application workflow.
Add a person process.
Reevaluation
A real-time request will be sent to The Work Number for all pending, active and ineligible clients over the age of 16 when any Reevaluation type is initiated and the page is saved.
Income and Expenses Q and A Navigator
If employment data was matched to a client during a Work Number request, a message will be displayed upon entering the Navigator page:
“Employment data was found through The Work Number process. Please click on the Ext Data… button to view the information.”
The same message will be displayed if you try to save the page without viewing the External Agency – Earned Income page.
An Ext Data… button was added next to the Employment question’s Yes/No Radio Button Group display. When the button is clicked, a view-only version of the External Agency – Earned Income page will be displayed.
Other Workflows
In addition to the Request for Assistance, Reevaluation, Web Application workflows and the Add a Person process, the following workflows will also request an employment data search from The Work Number when page is saved:
Extension Request,
Reinstatement.
Earned Income Page
The Earned Income page is set to Requires Reedit when Work Number data exists and the data has not been dispositioned.
Upon entering the Earned Income page, if employment data was found for any client over 16, the following message will be displayed:
“Employment data was found through The Work Number process. Please click on the Ext Data… button to view the information.”
The Ext Data… button was added to the Earned Income page below the End button. Clicking the button will display the employment data on the External Agency – Earned Income page.
After you review the employment data, and you determine if some, all or none of the data presented on the External Agency – Earned Income page should be copied to the Earned Income page, you should return to the Earned Income page.
The following processing will take place based on your action:
If you do not select an existing job displayed on the Earned Income page’s outline field, click on the Ext Data… button to return to the External Agency – Earned Income page. If you decide to Include the data, the Employer and Earnings data will be brought back to the Earned Income page, creating a “New” employment.
If you select an existing job without an Employer Name on the Earned Income page’s outline field (possibly a job recently reported on the Navigator), click on the Ext Data… button to return to the External Agency – Earned Income page. If you decide to Include the data, the Employer and Earnings data will update the existing job. This will be considered a New employment.
If you select an existing job with an Employer Name on the Earned Income page’s outline field, click on the Ext Data… button to return to the External Agency – Earned Income page. If you decide to Include the data, the Included Earnings data will be added to the existing job on to the Earned Income page.
If the Earned Income page is saved with all data complete, the employment data from The Work Number will be automatically verified with Electronically validated by The Work Number.
External Agency – Earned Income Page
Upon opening the page, if no employment data was found, the following informational message will be displayed:
“No data found. You can check for updates by clicking the ‘Query Agency’ button.”
If employment data is found, the following data will be displayed on the page:
|
External Agency – Earned Income |
Functionality |
|
Work Number |
Name of the External Agency from which data was received. |
|
Requested Action |
Values:
The Add or Update values will be filtered based upon the case manager’s action. To disposition the request result, you must choose one of these values, and click the Save button. The requires reedit that was set on the Earned Income page because Work Number data exists and the data had not yet been dispositioned will then be turned off. |
|
Name, DOB, SSN |
Identifying client information for which employment data was found. |
|
Employer Data |
|
|
Employer Name, FEIN, Employer Phone, Job Status |
Identifying employer information for which employment data was found. The Employer name, FEIN (uses Fed ID Number) and Employer Phone Number will be copied to the Employer tab for new employments. Values for Job Status:
Note: Only data for Active jobs will be copied.
|
|
Include (checkbox) |
You must Click on Include to add a new employment or update an existing employment, before hitting the Save button.
Note: You need to verify that the Employer Name on the Earned Income page is the same as the Include Employer’s Name prior to copying data. (The FEIN is not a mandatory field on The Work Number database.)
|
|
Type |
Always default to Wages and will be copied to the Employed tab for new employments. |
|
Start |
Uses the Most recent hire date from The Work Number database and will be copied to the Employed tab for new employments. |
|
Actual end |
This field will be blank for all employments. |
|
Frequency |
The Frequency field needs to be selected prior to copying data, and will display monthly, weekly, etc. The field is enabled by clicking on the Include checkbox. You must select a value based upon the Earnings data that is displayed below. The Frequency will be copied to the Employed tab for new employments. |
|
Hourly wage |
Displays the Rate of Pay amount from The Work Number. The Hourly wage will be copied to the Employed tab for new employments. |
|
Average hours |
Displays the Average Hours from The Work Number database, and copies that amount to the Average hours field on the Earned Income page, for new employments. You must perform a conversion to Weekly hours, and enter those hours on the Earned Income page if The Work Number hours are not weekly hours. |
|
Position title |
Displays the title on The Work Number. Since the values are different in BEACON, this data will not be copied. |
|
Employee phone |
The Employee phone field will be populated by The Work Number’s Employee Phone number and will be copied to the Employer tab for new employments. |
|
Employer Code |
The Employer Code is an internal Work Number value that will not be copied. |
|
Earnings Data |
|
|
Period |
Displays the Work Number’s Pay Date. You must determine the Frequency that is entered above, based on these dates. The page will initially show the first 10 Pay Periods for all Active and Inactive jobs on the Work Number database. If the Show All Periods button is clicked, all pay periods will be displayed. |
|
Gross Income |
Displays The Work Number’s Gross Earnings Amounts. |
|
Hours |
Displays the Work Number’s Hours. |
|
Include (checkbox) |
Click each pay period that should be copied to the Earned Income Earnings tab. |
|
BEACON Period |
Based upon the Frequency selected by you, the dropdown list will display all BEACON Pay Period Dates from the Start Date (descending).You must select a date for each row. Data will only be copied over for Periods displayed on the Earned Income page. |
|
Data not shown |
|
|
Health insurance offered |
Will be updated when The Work Number database has an indication that Medical Insurance was available. This will be copied to the Employer tab for new employments. |
|
Address |
Updated when The Work Number has an address in its Work location fields. The address will be copied to the Employer tab for new employments. |
|
Garnished |
Defaults to No. |
|
Buttons |
|
|
Save |
Save the requested action(s) on the page |
|
Query Agency |
Performs another search of The Work Number database. |
|
Show All Periods |
“The time to refresh the page is dependent on the volume of data. Do you wish to Proceed?”
|
|
|
Prints a hard copy of the expanded employment data. |
|
Expand All |
Displays all data on the page. |
|
Collapse All |
Displays data contained at the + level of the data hierarchy. |
Any other Earned Income data not specifically referenced will not be copied over or defaulted, and needs to be added by you on the Earned Income page.
Interview Wrapup
You will be prevented from completing the Interview Wrapup process until The Work Number data has been dispositioned.
Supervisors and TAO managers with the capability of External Agency Data Disposition Overrider can override the Interview Wrapup edit.
AR Referral
You can click on the External Agency – Earned Income button to open the External Agency – Earned Income page to view employment information. If The Work Number data was used in the referral, you should select Used Work Number data checkbox.
Notices
EBC Notices have been modified to include language instructing the client to contact Equifax Workforce Solutions when the client believes the employment data provided is discrepant. This language is displayed when a notice is generated as a result of income changes that are verified by Electronically validated by The Work Number.
Overpayment Notices have also been modified to include language instructing the client to contact Equifax Workforce Solutions when the client believes the employment data provided is discrepant. This following language will be displayed when the Accounts receivable (AR) overpayment referral’s Used Work Number data box is checked.
“The Department’s decision about your benefit eligibility was based on wage information from Equifax Workforce Solutions, a consumer reporting agency. Equifax Workforce Solutions did not make the decision and cannot tell you about the Department’s decision. You have the right to a free copy of your report if you ask for it from Equifax Workforce Solutions within 60 days of the date of this letter. You have the right to question Equifax Workforce Solutions about your report. Contact Equifax Workforce Solutions directly at: Equifax Workforce Solutions, 11432 Lackland Road, St. Louis, MO 63146-3516 Tel# 1-800-996-7566 (toll free).”
Views
A Has Employment column header has been added to the following TAO views when Work Number data exists which has not been dispositioned.
Pending Applications/Reinstatements;
Reevaluation Due;
Reevaluation Due – Interim Report; and
Pending TAFDC Extensions;
Overview of changes affecting Central office processing
A new batch process was added to trigger The Work Number search overnight for all AR Referrals received during the day.
A Has Employment column has been added to the following CO views when data was found for the client:
New Referrals,
Pending Referrals
Rejected Referrals.
The details of the employment will display on a view-only version of the External Agency – Earned Income page.
Changes to Existing Functionality
Application/ Reevaluation Print forms
Additional Cash Restriction Language was added to the Cash Signature page.
Pending AUs (Web Applications) - CEU Tracking view
A Type column was added to displays whether the web application is an Application or a Reinstatement
For more information see Operations Memo 2013-33: TAFDC, EAEDC, and SNAP: Statewide Implementation of the Work Number Employment Verification Service.