The Louisiana OFS-87 wage verification form is a short letter that your employer fills out to confirm your earnings for the Department of Children and Family Services. You sign the top to authorize the release of your pay information, hand it to your employer’s payroll or HR department to complete the wage sections, and return the signed form to DCFS within 10 days. The faster you move it through those three steps, the faster your SNAP or TANF case gets decided.
Getting a Blank Copy
DCFS usually sends the OFS-87 directly to you or your employer when it needs wage verification for an application or recertification. If you need a fresh copy, you can download it as a PDF from the DCFS website at dcfs.louisiana.gov.1Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Current, Past Or Anticipated Wage Verification Letter The full title is “Current, Past Or Anticipated Wage Verification Letter,” so a search on that phrase will pull it up. Print it on standard letter paper and keep a copy before you hand it to your employer.
Your Part of the Form
Your role is small but necessary. At the top of the letter you confirm your name, sign to authorize your employer to release your pay information to DCFS, and date the form. That’s it. Without your signature the employer has no permission to share wage data, so skip this step and the form goes nowhere.
What Your Employer Fills In
The rest of the OFS-87 is for payroll or HR to complete. The form asks for:
- Your start date, and if you no longer work there, your last day worked, the reason you left, the date of your last paycheck, and its gross amount.1Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Current, Past Or Anticipated Wage Verification Letter
- Pay frequency — weekly, every two weeks, twice a month, or monthly.
- Your hourly rate and the hours you work per week or per pay period.
- Estimated tips per week or pay period, if you receive them.
- Any other income the employer knows about, such as other wages, insurance benefits, or pensions.
- A table showing your gross income for the last four consecutive pay periods, with the date range and gross amount for each one.1Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Current, Past Or Anticipated Wage Verification Letter
The figures must be gross — your pay before taxes and other deductions, not take-home. Caseworkers apply their own deduction calculations, so the employer should report pre-deduction amounts. Every row of the pay-period table needs both dates and a dollar figure; blank rows get the form sent back for completion. The employer signs at the bottom to certify the information, and without that signature DCFS may treat the form as incomplete.
Give your employer some lead time. Most can turn the form around in a few business days, but larger companies often route these requests through a central office that takes longer.
Returning the Form to DCFS
Once the form is signed, you have four ways to get it back. The fastest is uploading through the Louisiana CAFÉ Customer Portal at cafe-cp.dcfs.la.gov. The portal gives you three upload paths: during the application process from the Verification Status Check page, from the Application Status Check page using the “Upload Documents” link, or from the Cases tab after clicking into your case details and selecting “Upload Documents.”2Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Frequently Asked Questions Scan or photograph the completed form clearly before uploading. Blurry images slow things down.
You can also drop it off in person at your local parish office. The agency keeps an office directory at dcfs.louisiana.gov/directory with addresses and phone numbers for each location.3Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Find an Office Mail and fax are options too, but routing varies by program and parish, so contact your caseworker or local office first for the correct address or fax number.
The 10-Day Deadline
DCFS gives you 10 days to return requested verification. Miss the window and your application can be denied.4Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Administrative Code 67-III-1928 – Verification of Eligibility If you need more time, call your caseworker before the deadline runs out and ask for an extension or help obtaining the verification.
If your case is already closed for missing verification, you still have a window to recover. Turn in the completed OFS-87 within 30 days of your original application date and DCFS will reactivate the application back to the date you first applied. Turn it in during the second 30-day window (days 31 through 60) and DCFS will reopen the case, but benefits are prorated from the date you handed in the paperwork rather than backdated to your application.4Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Administrative Code 67-III-1928 – Verification of Eligibility Weeks of benefits ride on which window you hit, so speed matters.
If Your Employer Won’t Cooperate
When DCFS’s initial request to your employer gets no response, the agency sends you a follow-up letter asking you to push the employer to complete the form.1Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Current, Past Or Anticipated Wage Verification Letter This is where plenty of applications stall. If your employer is dragging their feet, tell your caseworker. They may accept alternative proof such as consecutive pay stubs covering the same period the form would have covered.
Make Sure the Numbers Match Your Pay Stubs
Before you submit, check the wage figures on the completed form against your recent pay stubs. If something is off, ask your employer to correct and re-sign the form. A small discrepancy flagged by a caseworker usually means a phone call, but understated or falsified income can trigger an intentional program violation finding, with a one-year SNAP disqualification for a first offense, two years for a second, and permanent disqualification for a third.5Legal Information Institute. Louisiana Administrative Code 67-III-2007 – Penalties You would also have to repay any overpayment. Catching an error before the form leaves your hands is the simplest protection.