The second half of the Nebraska Child Support Payment Center’s summer schedule of Employer Seminars gets underway this week, starting Thursday in Omaha, State Treasurer Don Stenberg said today.

The seminar for Omaha-area employers who pay child support on behalf of their employees will be 10 a.m. Thursday, June 19, at the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, 1301 Harney St. The free, one-hour seminars are offered in communities across Nebraska to update employers on practices and requirements for making child support payments on behalf of their employees.

Among the topics covered are new hire reporting, income and medical withholding, employee verification and termination, and electronic payments. Employers attending the seminars also receive copies of various forms used to make child support payments and instructions for filling out the forms.

The Child Support Payment Center is a division of the Nebraska State Treasurer’s Office and operates under an agreement with the State Department of Health and Human Services.

“Employers play a vital role in the operation of our Nebraska Child Support Payment Center given the fact that 85 percent of the payments made to the center are made by employers on behalf of their employees,” Treasurer Stenberg said. “We are committed to providing information and assistance so that employers can make these payments as efficiently and as easily as possible. We appreciate the cooperation and support we receive from employers, which in the end benefits the custodial parents and children who depend on these payments.”

Stenberg thanked employers for using electronic methods to submit child support payments, and he urged smaller employers to begin using electronic methods. More than 78 percent of child support payments sent by employers to the Child Support Payment Center in 2013 were sent electronically, totaling more than $189 million, he said, adding he would like to see that percentage and total go even higher.

State law requires that employers with 50 or more employees remit child support electronically.

“Electronic payments make good business sense and leave less room for error. They eliminate the cost of printing and handling paper checks and the data entry associated with paper checks. They also reduce postal costs for the employers and for the State of Nebraska. What’s more, an electronic payment has never been lost in our system,” Stenberg said.

This is the 11th year the Employer Seminars have been offered. In that time, representatives of the Child Support Payment Center and DHHS have traveled more than 26,000 miles, met with more than 4,000 employer representatives, and presented more than 170 seminars in 21 cities. Employer participants have said they appreciate the opportunity to learn how to fill out the various forms required, to become familiar with the payment center’s website, and to ask specific questions about unique circumstances involving their employees.

Registrations are still being accepted for the remaining Employer Seminars, including the Omaha seminar to be held Thursday. Employers can register through the Nebraska Child Support Payment Center website at https://www.nebraskachildsupport.com/Employers/.

The locations, dates, and times of the remaining seminars are as follows: