Author: Stephen Goldberg

WTW requirements for Pregnant Woman Only Assistance Units

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The California Department of Social Services has issued instructions about Welfare-to-Work (WTW) requirements for Pregnant Woman Only (PWO) Assistance Units. Pregnant women with no other eligible children in the home are now eligible for CalWORKs beginning in the second trimester of pregnancy.

Unless exempt from WTW, PWOs must participate for 20 hours per week to meet minimum participation requirements because they are considered a household with a child under age 6.  However, to meet federal participation requirements, PWOs must participate 30 hours per week, 20 hours of which much be in a federally approved activity.  If a PWO meets the 20 hours per week minimum but not the 30 hours per week federal requirement, the PWO’s 24 month clock ticks. ACL 16-21 (April 15, 2016).

CAPI eligibility for citizens of free associated states

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The California Department of Social Services has issued a clarification that citizens of the free associated states of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia Palau are eligible for the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI).

Persons are eligible for CAPI if they are lawful immigrants who would have been eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits before August 22, 1996, the day the federal welfare reform law became effective.  Lawful immigrants who were eligible for SSI before August 22, 1996 include persons who qualify as Persons Residing Under Color Of Law (PRUCOL).

Citizens of the freely associated states are PRUCOL and are therefore eligible for CAPI.  ACL 16-33 (May 2, 2016).

Misconduct and unemployment insurance ALJ duty to develop the record

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The California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (CUIAB) has issued P-B-510 which holds that due process requires the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to develop the record in an unemployment insurance hearing.  The case involves termination for tardiness based on an employer’s no fault attendance policy.  The decision first holds that an employer’s attendance policy has no bearing on eligibility for unemployment insurance, and whether an employee has committed misconduct is based on unemployment insurance law and the particular facts of the case and not on the employer’s attendance policy.

The decision continues that, in attendance cases, the final incident must be analyzed to determine if it is misconduct, and that is done by examining whether the incident breached an important duty to the employer and injured or tended to injure the employers interest.  If so, the employee must show good cause.  If there is not good cause, the employee will have committed misconduct if the final incident was substantially detrimental to the employer’s interest or the employee had at least one prior justified warning for a similar incident.

The CUIAB then found that the ALJ had to a duty to develop “a comprehensive evidentiary record” surrounding the final incident, including the reason for the tardiness, the reasons the employee did not provide notice of the tardiness, the impact on the employer and the facts surrounding prior attendance issues and reprimands.  The ALJ failed to develop the record, and that failure justified remand for a new hearing to fully develop the record.  P-B-510 (February 24, 2016).

Benefits and same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships

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The California Department of Social Services has issued policies about how same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships are treated for purposes of various programs.  For CalWORKs, same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners who have adopted the children are treated as members of the assistance unit who are subject to welfare-to-work requirements.  These households are considered two parent households for purposes of welfare-to-work requirements.  Same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners who have not adopted the children are considered step-parents, meaning they can be considered part of the assistance unit and participate in welfare-to-work but are not required to do so.

For purposes of eligibility for child care, same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners who have adopted the children are treated as members of the assistance unit, meaning the same-sex spouse or registered domestic partner can be considered an able and available parents who can provide child care.  Same-sex spouses and registered domestic partners who have not adopted the children are considered optional step-parents and are not considered for purposes of eligibility for child care.

For purposes of CalFresh, any group of persons who customarily purchase and prepare meals together are considered a household.   Same-sex spouses are considered spouses and must be included in the CalFresh household.  However, registered domestic partners are not considered spouses and are not automatically included in the household.  Registered domestic partners who are part of the CalWORKs assistance unit or customarily purchase and prepare meals with the family must be included in the CalFresh household.

Refugee Cash Assistance has the same requirements as CalWORKs.  Registered domestic partners have the same status as married couples for purposes of eligibility for Refugee Cash Assistance.  ACL 16-13 (March 28, 2016).

CalFresh Expedited Service

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The California Department of Social Services issued this letter to clarify and transmit current state and federal rules about CalFresh Expedited Service (ES). Counties must screen all CalFresh applications for ES. Applicants have the right to file a CalFresh application on the day they contact the county during business hours. The application is considered complete if it contains the applicant’s name, address and signature.  Counties cannot refuse or deter submission of a CalFresh application during normal business hours.

Counties must verbally inform each CalFresh applicant of ES availability.  ES information must be added to at or near the beginning of each online CalFresh application.  The CalFresh application asks ES screening questions but county review for ES cannot be limited to the screening questions on the application.

Applicants are eligible for ES if:

  1. Household has both less than $150 in gross monthly income and less than $100 liquid resources
  2. Household combined gross monthly income and resources is less than household’s monthly rent or mortgage and utilities.
  3. Migrant or seasonal farmworker who is destitute and has less than $100 resources.
  4. Household is destitute, meaning the household’s only income was received before the application date and has terminated, the household has income from a new source but no more than $25 will be received within 10 calendar days of the application, or a combination of those.

Counties are not required to notify applicants that ES has been denied. However, counties must offer an agency conference for ES denials.  Counties must provide information about the agency conference at the same time the household is informed of ES.

ES must be granted within 3 business days of the application, which means EBT cards must be available within the 3 business day timeframe.  The only verification required for ES is identity, which can be verified using MEDS or any other information known to the county including a prior application. If identity cannot be verified, the county can accept attestation of identity from a collateral contact who confirms the applicant’s identity. All other verification is postponed until processing of the application, which is up to 30 days.  If ES eligibility is discovered at a subsequent interview or any later time during the application process, the 3 business day ES time clock begins when the county discovered ES entitlement.

If a household missed their ES interview, the county will send a notice to the applicant to reschedule the interview prior to 30 days after application.  Counties should route the application for normal processing if the applicant misses the ES interview. If the applicant does not contact the county to reschedule the interview within 30 days, the application is denied.

Based on input from a workgroup, CDSS has recommendations for ES, including that the county assign a lobby greeter, the county attach a half-sheet to the application explaining ES, and the county post signs in welfare department lobbies about ES.  ACL 16-14 (February 29, 2016).

Sick leave for CalWORKs Subsidized Employment program

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The California Department of Social Services has issued instructions for sick leave in the CalWORKs Subsidized Employment program. AB 1522 requires, after July 1, 2015, that an employee who works more than 30 days within a year from the beginning of employment is entitled to accrued sick leave of no less than 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee is entitled to use accrued sick leave starting the 90th day after the beginning of employment.

For purposes of accrued sick leave, the employer is entity paying wages and taxes for the Subsidized Employment participant.  Subsidized Employment participants are not exempt from sick leave unless they are covered by a collective bargaining agreement.   Counties should ensure that employers of Subsidized Employment participants are complying with sick leave requirements and the appropriate amount of sick leave has accrued since July 1, 2015.  ACL 16-17 (March 4, 2016).