Gig Economy Gives Child Support Scofflaws a Place to Hide

The rise of the gig economy and a broad shift to contract work is making it easier for people to evade paying child support, causing headaches for parents and for state officials charged with tracking down the money.

About 70 percent of child support payments are collected by withholding income from paychecks. It’s possible to capture the wages of an Uber driver, Airbnb renter or a contractor — but only if state officials know that a person owing child support is earning wages that can be garnished, and only if the employer cooperates.

In every state, employers are required to report new hires to a child support database used to find out where parents are working to set orders and withhold income. But in most states, employers are bound by those rules only when they hire full-time or part-time employees, not contractors or gig workers, who are sometimes classified as contractors. Texas expanded its law to include contractors in 2015, and lawmakers in other states, including Oregon and New York, have proposed doing the same.

But even in the states where employers are required to report contractors, such as California, companies such as Uber and Lyft still aren’t following the rules, and state officials have few ways to make them comply, said Alisha Griffin, who heads the California Department of Child Support Services.

Nationwide, there is about $114 billion in unpaid child support, which has accumulated over time and grows every year. Child support orders are set when parents separate to ensure that both parents pay for children’s basic needs, such as food and clothing.

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