M E M O R A N D U M

TO: EES Program Administrators

FROM: Sandra Kimmons

DATE: 4/20/17

SUBJECT: Implementation Instructions - KEESM Revision #82

This memo provides implementation instructions and information for the following May 1, 2017, policy changes in the Kansas Economic and Employment Services Manual (KEESM).

1. All Programs
   
   
   1. Income Producing Cost Deduction – See SOC section I, A, 3.
      
      KEESM had always directed staff to Appendix items P-12 and P-13 for information on allowable deductions for self-employment earnings. The information on those forms was not always clear or self-explanatory. We have updated section 7122.1 and removed P-12 and P-13 from the Appendix. Staff can receive additional direction under ‘Training by Topic.’
      
      
   2. Reinstatement of Assistance – See SOC section I, B, 1.
      
      KEESM only allows for reinstatement of a program in the month of closure or the month following the month of closure for 3 reasons. In all other instances, a new application is required. In these instances, once a recipient is notified of case closure, the case is closed. Policy requires a new application, putting an individual back in applicant status and therefore the individual should be treated as such. For work program failures and for child support non-cooperation, if an individual fails to cooperate prior to the agency action, a penalty may be placed. However, if the action (failure) occurs after the date of the agency action, no penalty can be applied. If an individual attempts to avoid a penalty situation by requesting a case closure, cooperation would need to occur prior to case reopening.
      
      Examples:
      
      Work Programs:
      
      
      1. Alice calls on 3/30 to report she has new employment and will receive her first check on 4/10. Her TANF case is closed effective 4/30 on April 3rd and a notice is sent. Alice did not want the Work Incentive payment as she desired to save her TANF months. On April 17th, Alice reports she lost her job. After further investigation, it is discovered Alice walked off her job after a disagreement with a co-worker. As this was a voluntary quit, this is a potential employment violation. Her TANF case was closed correctly and a notice was sent to her. Alice is not eligible to have her case reinstated. She must complete an application and resolve the potential employment violation if she wants to receive cash for the month of April or May.
         
         Allice would be penalized for the job quit on the corresponding Food Assistance case, a timely notice of adverse action must be sent by the 19th establishing the disqualification period of May, June, and July because this is Alice’s first potential employment penalty.
         
         
      2. Thomas has agreed to attend a workshop from 3/6-3/31 for his participation in work programs. He was given a Self-Sufficiency Agreement stating when and where the workshop was to take place. Thomas attended the workshop for the first week then failed to show up after that. He called to request his case closed on 3/14. On 3/15 Thomas’ TANF case is closed and a notice is sent. The Career Navigator receives notification on 3/20 that Thomas failed to attend the class. Since Thomas failed to attend the class prior to his case being closed on 3/15, a work program penalty is applied to the case. This is Thomas’ 1st work program penalty and will be effective for April, May, & June. Thomas will also have a comparable penalty for Food Assistance for the same months as the notice was sent by the 20th of March.
         
         
      3. John has agreed to attend a workshop from 3/6-3/31 for his participation in work programs. He was given a Self-Sufficiency Agreement stating when and where the workshop was to take place. John attended the workshop for the first week then failed to show up after that. He called to request his case closed on 3/14. On 3/15 John’s TANF case is closed due to customer request and a notice is sent. The Career Navigator receives notification on 3/20 that John failed to attend the class. Since John failed to attend the class prior to his case being closed on 3/15, a work program penalty is applied to the case. This is John’s 1st work program penalty and will be effective for April, May, & June. The Career Navigator sends the penalty notification to eligibility on 3/22 but eligibility doesn’t address the case until 4/1. Eligibility will still apply the work program penalty effective for April, May and June as adequate notice has been given for April benefits (KEESM 1432). John will also have a comparable penalty assessed on his Food Assistance case effective May, June, & July.
         
         

      Child Support:

      1. Carol is receiving TANF and Child Care for her 3 children. She obtains employment, calls on 3/9 and wants her case closed. She does not want the Work Incentive payment. Her case is closed effective 3/31 and on 3/10 a notice is sent that day. Child support has been sending Carol notices and calling her to get her to cooperate on the father of her children. Child support sends a notice to EES of non-coop with the dates of their contact – the last contact which Carol ignored was 3/8. Since the non-cooperation was prior to the date of closure, a failure to cooperate has occurred and a penalty should be placed on the TANF, Child Care and Food Assistance.
         
         
      2. Sam is receiving TANF and Child Care for his son. He calls on 4/7 and wants his case closed. The worker closes Sam’s case on 4/11 effective 4/30. Child Support Services notified EES of Sam’s failure to cooperate with CCS services. The dates of contact from child support that Sam failed to follow-up were 3/1, 3/23, and 4/14. Since the last date of contact from child support was after the date of closure, there is no penalty. However, prior to Sam being eligible for TANF and Child Care in the future, he must cooperate with child support. For Food Assistance, Sam would be coded DI starting the first month that allows for timely and adequate notice. He would remain coded DI until the month after he cooperates with CSS.

      Cases Eligible for Reopening:

      1. Teresa called to report her boyfriend moved in. She didn’t know her boyfriend’s date of birth or Social Security number. An ES-3105.1 was sent on 3/23 to request all information needed. This information is was due 4/3. The Career Navigator has also been working with Teresa. Teresa is was to attend a workshop on 3/29. Teresa failed to attend and failed to provide good cause for missing the workshop. The TANF case was closed on 4/7, effective 4/30 for failure to provide information on the boyfriend. Teresa has also failed a work program requirement and has incurred a work program penalty. A notice of the work program penalty is sent informing Teresa of the penalty. Teresa will also have a comparable penalty assessed on her Food Assistance case.
         
         
      2. Mary called to report her boyfriend moved in. She didn’t know her boyfriend’s date of birth or Social Security number. An ES-3105.1 was sent on 3/23 to request all information needed. This information was due 4/3. The Career Navigator has also been working with Mary. Mary was to attend a workshop on 4/10. Mary failed to attend and failed to provide good cause for missing the workshop. The TANF case was closed on 4/7, effective 4/30 for failure to provide information on the boyfriend. Mary provided her boyfriend’s information on 4/12, the case was processed on 4/17 when the client was notified of the work program penalty. Adequate notice only is required because the client had already been notified timely of the closure. A notice of the work program penalty is sent informing Mary of the penalty.
         
         
      3. Mary called to report her boyfriend moved in. She didn’t know her boyfriend’s date of birth or Social Security number. An ES-3105.1 was sent on 3/23 to request all information needed. This information was due 4/3. The Career Navigator has also been working with Mary. Mary was to attend a workshop on 4/10. Mary failed to attend and failed to provide good cause for missing the workshop. The TANF case was closed on 4/7, effective 4/30 for failure to provide information on the boyfriend. Mary provided her boyfriend’s information on 4/12. The information was processed on 4/17 at which time the case is reopened. The Career Navigator notifies the Purple Team of the work program penalty on 4/20. Since timely and adequate notice must be sent, the work program penalty cannot begin until June 1 for TANF and food assistance.
      
      
2. Food Assistance
   
   
   1. School Attendance Comparable Penalty – See SOC section II, A, 1.
      
      Effective May 1, 2017 a child, age 7 through 18, receiving TANF cash assistance must be working toward attainment of a high school diploma or its equivalent, including students attending a home school that is registered with the Kansas Department of Education. The entire TANF household is ineligible if a child in the home is not enrolled in school and there will be a comparable disqualification to the corresponding food assistance case. The TANF case head will be changed from a member to an excluded member (DI) on the food assistance case. There must already be ongoing food assistance and TANF case for a comparable penalty to be applied. The penalty will be established giving timely and adequate notice. Send notice F750. The penalty should be reviewed in one year to see if it is still appropriate.
      
      If the child enrolls in school, the case head will be changed from excluded member (DI) to member (In) on the food assistance case effective the month following the month the child is enrolled in school
      .
      1. Example: Jane (PI) is receiving TANF along with her adult daughter and grandchild who is 7, there is also an open FA case for this household. Jane’s adult child is in and out of the home and Jane is the regular caretaker of her grandchild. It is discovered at review November 4th, 2017 that the grandchild is not enrolled in school. The TANF case is closed and Jane is coded DI on the FA case. The A444 and F750 notices are sent to the household providing timely and adequate notice for the changes to the FA case. The worker set an alert to check on this case in one year for the FA penalty. In November 2018 the worker checks the case and finds the grandchild is still not enrolled in school and the household has not reapplied for TANF. The worker adds Jane back onto the FA case (IN) for December 2018 because there is no longer a comparable penalty. A change in benefits notice is sent to the household.
         
         
      2. Example: Jane (PI) is receiving TANF along with her adult daughter and grandchild who is 7, there is also an open FA case for this household. Jane’s adult child is in and out of the home and Jane is the regular caretaker of her grandchild. It is discovered at review November 4th, 2017 that the grandchild is not enrolled in school. The TANF case is closed and Jane is coded DI on the FA case. The A444 and F750 notices are sent to the household providing timely and adequate notice for the changes to the FA case. The worker set an alert to check on this case in one year for the FA penalty. January 2nd 2018 the worker is notified that the granddaughter is now enrolled in school. The worker coded Jane IN on the FA case for February and sent a change in benefits notice to the household.
         
         
3. TANF and Child Care
   
   
   1. Good Cause for Failure to Cooperate and Failure to Cooperate – See SOC section IV, A, 1.
      
      Effective May 1, 2017 child support staff will begin coordinating with PPS to determine if there is an open PPS case. CSS will utilize this information to assist in their determination of non-cooperation. Eligibility staff are no longer required to contact PPS for this information as it has been done for you. In addition, Career Navigators, due to their monthly contact with TANF recipients, will notify eligibility staff of good cause reasons for non-cooperation with child support. EES staff, if notified of non-cooperation by CSS, may still need to contact Career Navigatorso for work program participants to determine if they know of a good cause reason for non-cooperation. Once CSS has notified eligibility staff of the non-cooperation, action may be taken to close the case without a supervisory review of the file.
      
      Example: Joan is receiving TANF benefits for her two children. CSS notifies the purple team of child support non-cooperation. Since CSS is responsible for checking with PPS, and there is no information in the file from the Career Navigator regarding any domestic violence issues, the purple team does a quick contact with the Career Navigator to assure there is not a good cause reason to not close the case. Once assured there is no good cause, the case can be closed with the appropriate closure reason (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th).