The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued new instructions regarding how counties should act on information received from a third-party payroll source.
Counties must verify all discrepant information received from Income Eligibility and Verification System (IEVS). Clients are given the first opportunity at verification by the county sending the client a 10-day verification letter. If the client fails or refuses to respond to the 10-day letter, the county must contact the appropriate income or benefits source. CDSS considers employers and third-party payroll sources such as The Work Number to be appropriate sources for verifying IEVS discrepancies. If the source verifies the IEVS discrepancy, the county must take action or document that no action is required.
For CalFresh, if the client does not respond and the income source does not provide sufficient information to verify a discrepant IEVS match, the county terminate CalFreh benefits.
For CalWORKs, if the income source does not provide sufficient information to verify a discrepant IEVS match, the client’s sworn statement is sufficient. If the client fails to respond, the county must document the discrepancy for resolution with the client by the next semi-annual report or annul redetermination. If the client does not provide sufficient information to resolve the discrepancy, the semi-annual report or annual redetermination will be considered incomplete and CalWORKs will be discontinued.
If an appropriate third-party payroll source provides information beyond what as reported in an IEVS match, the county must try to verify the discrepancy by sending the client a verification letter. If the client fails or refuses to respond with sufficient information to resolve the discrepancy, the county must consider the income from the third-party payroll source to be verified and determine its effect on eligibility accordingly. This includes any overpayments or overissuances for months the client did not report income over the Income Reporting Threshold, and any effect on current benefit amounts.
ACLs 16-118 and 19-08 regarding the Work Number being used in conjunction with, but not in lieu of, existing income and eligibility sources, is superseded. (ACL 21-16, March 25, 2021.)