Oklahoma child support encounters of the employer kind

Oklahoma child support is regulated by state statutes and enforced by courts and agencies, and it often affects employers’ insurance and benefit programs and payrolls. To learn more, read on.

How your benefit plans are affected

Child support includes parental payments as well as an employee benefits provision. For example, your healthcare plan may encounter court orders to expand an employee’s coverage to include offspring (at the employee’s expense), effective even outside the enrollment season. You are then restricted from disenrolling or eliminating the ordered child healthcare without specific circumstances.

You also may receive a national medical support notice (NMSN) (from a child support agency) directing the enrollment of an employee’s child into your health insurance plan and carrying a fine of up to $200 per month, per child, for failure to comply. (Notably, fines should not be imposed if the parent/employee fails to contribute the required insurance premium.)

How parental payments are calculated

With respect to child support, courts calculate a parent’s obligatory payment amount using a formula that weighs the individual’s gross income against the number of child overnights per parent. Based on the calculation, courts may order an immediate income assignment to garnish an employee’s periodic pay. The garnishment may extend to: