(a) Upon receipt of a written request from a local child support agency enforcing the obligation of parents to support their children pursuant to Section 17400, or from an agency of another state enforcing support obligations pursuant to Section 654 of Title 42 of the United States Code, every employer, as specified in Section 5210, and every labor organization shall cooperate with and provide relevant employment and income information that they have in their possession to the local child support agency or other requesting agency for the purpose of establishing, modifying, or enforcing the support obligation. No employer or labor organization shall incur any liability for providing this information to the local child support agency or other requesting agency.

(b) Relevant employment and income information shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Whether a named person has or has not been employed by an employer or whether a named person has or has not been employed to the knowledge of the labor organization.

(2) The full name of the employee or member or the first and middle initial and last name of the employee or member.

(3) The employee’s or member’s last known residence address.

(4) The employee’s or member’s date of birth.

(5) The employee’s or member’s social security number.

(6) The dates of employment.

(7) All earnings paid to the employee or member and reported as W-2 compensation in the prior tax year and the employee’s or member’s current basic rate of pay.

(8) Other earnings, as specified in Section 5206, paid to the employee or member.

(9) Whether dependent health insurance coverage is available to the employee through employment or membership in the labor organization.

(c) The local child support agency or other agency shall notify the employer and labor organization of the local child support agency case file number in making a request pursuant to this section. The written request shall include at least three of the following elements regarding the person who is the subject of the inquiry: (A) first and last name and middle initial, if known; (B) social security number; (C) driver’s license number; (D) birth date; (E) last known address; or (F) spouse’s name.

(d) The local child support agency or other requesting agency shall send a notice that a request for this information has been made to the last known address of the person who is the subject of the inquiry.

(e) An employer or labor organization that fails to provide relevant employment information to the local child support agency or other requesting agency within 30 days of receiving a request pursuant to subdivision (a) may be assessed a civil penalty of a maximum of one thousand dollars ($1,000), plus attorneys’ fees and costs. Proceedings to impose the civil penalty shall be commenced by the filing and service of an order to show cause.

(f) “Labor organization,” for the purposes of this section means a labor organization as defined in Section 1117 of the Labor Code or any related benefit trust fund covered under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (Chapter 18 (commencing with Section 1001) of Title 29 of the United States Code).

(g) Any reference to the local child support agency in this section shall apply only when the local child support agency is otherwise ordered or required to act pursuant to existing law. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to mandate additional enforcement or collection duties upon the local child support agency beyond those imposed under existing law on the effective date of this section.

(Added by Stats. 1999, Ch. 478, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2000.)