105-11         THIRD PARTY VENDORS

DPADivision of Public Assistance has a contract with Equifax (The Work Number) for obtaining employment and income information online. Unfortunately, not all employers subscribe to this service. Some employers utilize other third party vendors and staff may sometimes encounter these businesses who will refer them to another company in order to obtain employment and income verification. When this situation occurs, staff may contact the third party vendor and obtain the verification they need to determine the client's eligibility for public assistance. The Authorization for Release of Information that clients sign allows DPADivision of Public Assistance employees to obtain the information from the third party vendor.

Note:

In checking employment and income information online, staff must first utilize the interfaces available to them using The Work Number and Department of Labor's database. For more information about DOLDepartment of Labor's database, refer to MS 123 and DOL's SAM user guide on DPAweb.

Some third party vendors will require staff to sign up for the service. If this situation occurs, staff has the option of signing up as long as the vendor does not charge a fee. If there is a fee for the service, staff should not use the third party vendor. Instead, staff should pend the case and ask the client to provide the information needed to determine eligibility.