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Home > FMS Policies and Procedures CA > Establishment of Consumers as Employers of Workers > Collect and Process F/EA Start Up Packages

Collect and Process F/EA Start Up Packages

Policy: 

The F/EA Start-Up Package includes all forms that a participant must complete to become an employer in the participant direction program. F/EA receives Fiscal/Employer Agent Start-Up Packages, as completed by consumers, via the Counselors. Original signatures must be on all forms, so original packages are only accepted via mail and drop-off at F/EA. All packages are quality checked within 2 business days of receipt. F/EA Start-Up Packages that are incomplete or inaccurate are returned to consumers within 2 business days of receipt.

All forms included in the F/EA Start-Up Package are required. A participant will not be established as an employer in the Worker program without satisfactorily completing all forms in the F/EA Start-Up package. For F/EA Start-Up Packages that pass a quality check without errors, F/EA obtains an Employer Identification Number (EIN) on the participant’s behalf. After successfully obtaining an EIN for the participant, the participant information can be entered into the payroll system. 
Procedure: 

Quality Check the F/EA Start-Up Package

All F/EA Start-Up Packages are quality checked by F/EA staff immediately upon receipt. <<Staff Title>> (or assigned staff member) is responsible for quality checking F/EA Start-Up packages. Forms that are not accurately or completely filled out are returned to the Counselor with an explanation of errors that must be corrected. Under no circumstances does F/EA obtain an EIN for a participant if forms are missing or are not correctly completed.
 
F/EA cannot provide tax advice for completion of any forms. If consumers or representatives have questions about the impact on their personal tax liability by completing forms, F/EA directs them to a tax professional.
 
Steps 1 through 5 below outline the general quality check procedures for the F/EA Start-Up package. Subsequent steps outline the required information for each form.
 
  1. <<Staff Title>> or assigned staff quality check F/EA Start-Up Packages
  2. Any F/EA Start-Up Packages received via the mail or drop-off are date stamped and placed in the F/EA Start-Up inbox
  3. <<Staff Title>> collects packages from F/EA Start-Up inbox daily.
  4. Upon completing review of each form, and verifying that it has been satisfactorily completed, <<Staff Title>> initials and dates the form.
  5. <<Staff Title>> tracks completion of forms in “For F/EA Use Only” sheet, the back of the third form in the package. 
  6. Write any errors on forms on “For F/EA Use Only” sheet
  7. Prior to submitting the F/EA Start-Up package to the F/EA, the Counselor completes the New Client Action Sheet and staples the Action Sheet as the first page in the package
  8. Review the Action Sheet
  9. Ensure that the following information is complete:
  • Effective Date
  • Consumer’s Name
  • Consumer’s Address
  • Sex
  • Date of Birth
  • Phone number
  • Social security number
  • Representative Information is not required, but it is preferred if the participant has a representative
  • Same preference applies if there is Legal Guardianship

10. Review the Consumer Agreement

11. Ensure that the following information is complete:

  • Printed Consumer’s name
  • Consumer’s signature
  • If the Consumer is a minor, one of the three signature options can be exercised:
  1. The person who has Power of Attorney (P.O.A.) can sign the Consumer Agreement.   If a Power of Attorney signs the Consumer Agreement, the Power of Attorney forms must be included in the package
  2. The Legal Guardian can sign the Consumer Agreement.   If a Guardian signs the Consumer Agreement, the Guardian paperwork must be included in the package

12.  Review Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification NumberEnsure that the requisite information is complete.

  1. The person who has Power of Attorney (P.O.A.) can sign this form.  If a Power of Attorney signs the Consumer Agreement, the Power of Attorney forms must be included in the package
  2.  The Legal Guardian can sign this form.  If a Guardian signs this form, the Guardian paperwork must be included in the package
  3.  The Representative cannot sign this form, unless the representatve is listed as the employer on Line 1 of Form SS-4

13.  Review Form 2678, Employer Appointment of Agent

14.  Ensure that the requisite information is complete.

  • If the Consumer is a minor, one of the two signature options can be exercised:
  1. The person who has Power of Attorney (P.O.A.) can sign this form.  If a Power of Attorney signs the Consumer Agreement, the Power of Attorney forms must be included in the package
  2.  The Legal Guardian can sign this form.   If a Guardian signs this form, the Guardian paperwork must be included in the package
  3.  The Representative cannot sign this form, unless the representative is listed as the employer on line 1 of Form SS-4

 

17.  Review Form 8821

18.  Ensure that the requisite information is complete.

Follow-Up on Incomplete Forms
If any of the forms are not completed as described in the section above, Quality Check the F/EA Start-Up Package, action must be taken within 2 business days of F/EA receiving the forms. Use the following procedure to follow up with Counselors regarding incomplete or inaccurate F/EA Start-Up Packages.
 
1.      If any of the forms have any of the below problems, F/EA will not proceed with getting an EIN and will contact the Counselor for follow-up:
  • Any of the forms are missing from the package
  • Any forms are missing a signature
  • Any forms have inconsistent name, Social Security Number or other information
2.      If any required sections of forms are incomplete or inaccurately completed, F/EA will follow-up with the Counselor within 2 business days.
3.    After identifying forms with problems and notating the problems on the “For F/EA Use Only” control sheet, <<Staff Title>> (or assigned staff member) contacts the Counselor via e-mail
  • The <<Staff Title>> communicates which forms have problems and explains what is incomplete or inaccurate about completion of the form
  • <<Staff Title>> notifies the Counselor that they can work with the participant to complete only the form(s) with problems and mail them to F/EA
  • If the Counselor reports that they will work with the participant to fix the incomplete form and then mail the form to F/EA, print the e-mail stating that and staple to the back of the F/EA Start-Up Package
  •   <<Staff Title>> puts F/EA Start-Up Package in “Packages with Issues” sorter

               1.      Sort the package under the participant’s last name

  •  Any F/EA Start-Up Forms that are received by F/EA are date stamped and then compared to packages in the sorter

               1.      Any forms for consumers with packages in the sorter are added to those packages and quality checked

               2.      The complete F/EA Start-Up Package, with added form (s) is processed through the steps in Quality Check the F/EA Start-Up Package

  •  Every two business days, the <<Staff Title>> goes through the sorter
1.      Any packages remaining in the sorter have not had updated forms received for them
2.      For each participant with a package in the sorter, <<Staff Title>> opens their Cust. Service tab in Payroll System
3.      <<Staff Title>> checks to see if any new information about the package has been logged in the Customer Service Log
4.      <<Staff Title>> reviews the date in the Customer Service Log that F/EA first contacted the Counselor
5.      If five business days has passed since initial contact with the Counselor and corrected forms have not been received, <<Staff Title>> contacts Counselor again via e-mail to check on status
6.      Any response on status from Counselor is printed and attached to package
  • Follow steps until all completed forms are received or for 90 days
  • When a complete F/EA Start-Up Package is received, re-start process at Quality Check the F/EA Start-Up Package
 
Record Worker Information in Applicable Systems
After a F/EA Start-Up Package has cleared quality check for all forms, <<Staff Title>> or <<Staff Title>> (or assigned staff member) assigns the participant a Consumer ID and enters the participant in applicable systems.
 

 

Internal Controls: 

The internal controls used by F/EA  to monitor this process establish responsibility, segregate duties, document procedures and ensure independent internal verification.

The methods of internal control utilized by F/EA to collect and process F/EA Start-Up Packages are:
1.            All systems are password protected
  • Only staff authorized to perform certain duties are provided with password access to systems
2.            An Employer Identification Number (EIN) is not obtained on the participant’s behalf until all forms have successfully passed a quality check.
  • An EIN is required to enter a participant in the reporting agent’s payroll system.
  • This policy prevents a participant from paying a workers without an F/EA Start-Up package that successfully passes a quality check.
3.            All packages are date stamped immediately upon receipt.
  • Verification of date stamp occurs by a separate staff member than the staff member who quality checks the packages
  • This segregation of duties helps F/EA to track the time between receiving a package and quality checking it, ensuring that all packages are quality checked within 2 business days
4.            During quality check, each form is separately initialed and dated as it passes a satisfactory quality check
5.            A control sheet titled “For F/EA Use Only” is included in each F/EA Start-Up Package
  • During quality check, this control sheet is completed by the reviewer
  • The control sheet is reviewed subsequently by a second person during entry of participant information in to participant databases
6.            Each participant database is password protected.
  • Only F/EA staff authorized to update the database are provided a user ID and password.
7.            Prior to assigning a Consumer ID, the Census database is checked to ensure the Consumer ID has not already been assigned
  • This validation ensures data integrity
8.            All participant documents are scanned and saved for a minimum of 7 years per File Retention Policy.