DPSS ePolicy

Revision of existing policy and/or form(s).

Note: Changes are shown highlighted in gray thoughout the document.

Post-Employment Services Policy was revised as follows:

1. A revised GN 6010.9B, Post-Employment Services Letter to notify employed participants that PES is available for Transitional Subsidized Employment (TSE) activities to align with current policy. An option to accept PES was also added to the revised form;
2. A revised GN 6369, Notice of Denial/Termination of Post-Employment Services to inform CalWORKs discontinued participants that PES will terminate three months after CalWORKs discontinuance date; and
3. Procedures on adding, updating and closing employment records and changing the status reason on the California Statewide Automated System (CalSAWS) Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Status Detail page for PES cases.

PES provides supportive services and activities for working-aided and former CalWORKs participants.

CalWORKs participants with an open CalWORKs case are eligible for PES during their entire CalWORKs 60-month eligibility (or longer if granted a time limit extender to the CalWORKs 60-month Time Clock (60-MTC), if employed the minimum required hours of participation of 20/30/35 hours per week or engaged in a combined total of 20/30/35 hours per week of work hours and a WtW activity.

Upon CalWORKs discontinuance, participants including homeless and Post-Time Limit (PTL) participants who; remain employed in unsubsidized employment for 20/30/35 hours per week, and continue to participate in concurrent educational/training activity, can receive PES for up to three consecutive months from the date of CalWORKs discontinuance. Participants receiving PTL services can receive PES for the remaining months of the three-month period following the participant’s time off date. A participant’s cash aid can discontinue for any reason to qualify for PES except Intentional Program Violation and Out of Home or County.

Upon CalWORKs discontinuance, for Excess Income, participants who remain employed in the TSE Program will continue to receive PES supportive services for the duration of the TSE activity, as appropriate.

Many participants secure initial, entry-level jobs with wages too low to eliminate the need for public assistance.  The goal of PES is to provide participants with the information, resources, and tools they need to retain unsubsidized employment, improve career potential, and achieve economic self-sufficiency at a living wage prior to exhausting their CalWORKs 60-MTC.  To this end, an array of services are offered to help participants stay employed and get a better job with sufficient wages to reach self-sufficiency from CalWORKs dependency.

Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR)

The State uses the SAR process to determine initial and ongoing eligibility for cash assistance. With SAR, all recipients are required to submit an Eligibility Status Report (SAR 7). Evidence must be submitted with the SAR 7 to verifiy the reported information (i.e., employment verification).

Note: Participants are required to provide verification of employment/earnings to their Eligibility Worker (EW) on their SAR 7, Annual Redetermination or anytime the participant’s income is over the Income Reporting Threshold.

CalSAWS Imaging Solutions (CIS)

CIS is an imaging system that allows line staff to scan, electronically store and view eligibility case documents. All case documents dated January 1, 2013 or later, must be imaged, with the exception to cases that have been identified as Domestic Violence (DV). Case documents that are pertinent and correspond to an open activity even though they are dated prior to January 1, 2013, must be imaged.

Participation Requirements

Refers to participation requirements due to Senate Bill 1041 of:

• 20 hours per week for a single parent with a child under six years old;
• 30 hours per week for a single parent with no child under six years old; and
• 35 hours for two-parent families.

To qualify for PES after CalWORKs discontinuance, each parent in a two-parent household must be employed 35 hours per week and participating in a concurrent educational/training, TSE or Specialized Supportive Services (SSS) activity.

Example: If one parent is working 35 hours per week and the second parent is working 20 hours per week, only the parent working 35 hours per week will be eligible for PES after CalWORKs discontinuance if participating in a concurrent education/training, TSE or SSS activity.

Self-Employment

A Self-employment participant works for themselves instead of an employer and draws an income from a business performing a trade or service that they personally operate. Self-employment occupations may include, but are not limited to automotive mechanic, barber, hairdresser, lawn care worker, licensed child care provider, electrician, plumber, taxi cab driver and rideshare driver.

Career Assessment Plan

A Career Assessment Plan outlines the path for moving the participant to a better job and to a career. The plan includes:

• The benefits of Educational/Vocational Training, Jobs Skills Training, Mentoring, and Life Skills Training;
• The need for Mental Health (MH), Substance Use Disorder (SUD), or Domestic Violence (DV) services, if appropriate; and
• A description of recommended services.

Definition of PES activities 

Job Retention Services

The GAIN Services Worker (GSW)/Contracted Case Manager (CCM) assists the participant with keeping their job by working with the participant to find a resolution to any barrier.

Educational Development

The GSW/CCM encourages the working participant to continue their education or pursue available courses around work hours to enhance their career opportunities.

Job Skills Training

Improve the skills and earning capability for the working parent, both on and off the job, for upward career mobility.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Counseling

The GSW/CCM promotes the availability of EITC as a way of increasing monthly or yearly income.

Life Skills Training

Assist working parents with time and money management, parenting education, and career and personal development.

Supportive Services

Improve the earning potential of participants by covering the cost of child care, transportation and ancillary expenses associated with continued education, skills training or any other approved PES activity.

Rapid Re-Employment Services

GSW/CCM assists the GAIN/REP participant who lost their job with immediate job search assistance or referral to the regional Business Services Specialist (BSS), job services contractor, or the entitiy that arranged the job placement.

Mentoring Services

Assist participants in coping with the working lifestyle and achieving their career goals. Mentor may be the GSW/CCM or the GSW/CCM may arrange a mentor for the participant.

SUD/MH/DV Services

Assist participants to overcome physical dependency and emotional barriers to employment. Upon disclosure of DV or positive screening for SUD or MH, the GSW/CCM must make the appropriate referrals for the participant to receive necessary treatment.

PES Continued Case Management

Continued case management services are provided as needed to assist working participants with maintaining their focus on employment, removing barriers, and adjusting to work and its challenges with the GSW/CCM providing moral support and encouragement during this time of change. The case manager’s supportive relationship with the participant serves to increase the possibility that the participant will remain employed.

Work Experience

Work experience is an activity in which a participant receives non-paid experience in a public or private agency. Work experience provides work behavior skills, enhances existing job skills in a position related to the participant’s experience or recently acquired skills, acquisition of new skills and employment references to use when seeking salaried employment. The GSW/CCM will arrange for the participant to meet with the BSS to begin the process of assignment.

Qualifying Employment

Must be:

• Expected to last at least 30 days from start date;
• Verifiable with participant’s release of information and is subject to minimum requirements for duration, weekly hours, and wages;
• At least the State minimum wage;
• At lease Federal minimum wage, if self-employed; and
• Reportable to the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal Minimum Wage

The reported net earnings of participants, who are self-employed or paid by commission, are calculated using the Federal minimum wage to determine the number of countable weekly participation hours.

Self-Employment Net Earnings Determination

To determine net earnings, the participant’s business expenses are deducted from gross earnings. The participant has a choice of deducting the:

• Forty percent standard deduction; or
• Verified actual business expenses.

The participant may change the method at their Annual Redetermination or every six months, whichever occurs first.

Concurrent Participation Requirement

A participant whose countable weekly participation hours do not meet the minimum weekly participation requirements is encouraged to work closely with the employer and GSW/CCM to arrange their schedule in order to retain employment and participate concurrently in GAIN activities.

In-Kind Services

Participants performing “In-Kind” services in exchange for free rent (e.g., apartment manager) may receive countable work hours, as employment, only if the qualifying rent is completely free.

GSW/CCM must defer to the EW for the calculation of value of In-Kind housing that is treated as earned income. Only the earned income may be used to calculate countable work hours.

CalWORKs Discontinued PES Participants

Participants must be employed 20/30/35 hours per week and engaged in an approved concurrent education/training, TSE or SSS activity prior to and continuously after the CalWORKs case discontinuance in order to receive PES for up to three consecutive months from their CalWORKs discontinuance date with the exception to TSE.

Note: Supportive services will only be provided for the concurrent education/training, and/or SSS activities such as DV, SUD and MH for participants who are employed 20/30/35 hours per week for up to three months from their CalWORKs discontinuance date.

Additionally, the activity must be specified in the participant’s WtW Plan prior to the CalWORKs discontinuance in order to receive transportation and/or work related ancillary payments for the concurrent educational/training and/or SSS activity. TSE participants will continue to receive PES for the duration of their TSE activities, as appropriate, when the CalWORKs case discontinues for Excess Income. See GAIN Chapter 900 for information regarding WtW Plans.

Additionally, whether or not the participant is eligible to PES, they may qualify for child care after CalWORKs cash aid discontinuance. See GAIN Child Care Policy for information regarding child care eligibility.

PTL Participants

Both PTL employment services and PES eligibility are limited to three months from the date the participant was deleted from the Assistance Unit due to time limits. Therefore, following CalWORKs case discontinuance, PES eligibility is limited to the remaining months of the three-month period following the participant’s time-off date.

PES Supportive Services

To qualify for PES supportive services, the requested services must:

1. Be needed by the participant to keep the current job, or to get a new job that will provide more income and/or better benefits.
   
   
2. Not be provided by the employer, or the entity that arranged the job placement, if other than the County.
   
   
3. Not be available from other sources or organizations.

Monthly Contact

GSW/CCM must contact employed participants on a monthly basis to determine the following:

1. Confirm that the participant is still employed and participating in concurrent activities, if applicable.
   
   
2. Identify any changes to the participant’s work hours and schedule. If changes are reported, then verification of work hours must be requested. If no changes reported, then verification provided on the participants
   SAR-7 or Annual Redetermination must be used.
   
   
3. Assess participant service needs during the monthly contact. Offer the participant support in the transition from WtW, and in support of job retention, assist them in the resolution of barriers to continued employment.
   
   
4. Offer and determine the need for supportive services if there are any changes to the participant’s address or work site.
   
   
5. Document any phone contact and include any disclosures of increased or decreased earnings or hours.

Note: Work hours must be verified monthly only for CalWORKs discontinued participants.

Two-Parent Household Minimum Participation Requirements

The minimum weekly WtW participation requirement for an aided CalWORKs household in which two parents reside may be met through the employment of one parent.

One parent can be employed and/or participating at least 35 hours per week, or both parents can have a combined total of at least 35 hours per week.

1. One parent in a two-parent household meeting weekly participation requirements;
   
   
   • May meet the WtW participation requirement for the family; and
     
   • If one parent is employed 35 hours per week or participating in GAIN activities for at least 35 hours per week, the second parent is excused from participation.
     
     Note: In a two-parent Assistance Unit where one parent has a mandatory work registration status and the second parent has an exempt work registration status due to a disability, the exempt/disabled participant may not contribute to the average 30 hours per week requirement.
     
     
2. Splitting contribution hours:
   
   
   • When a timed-out parent provides verification that they are working or involved in a federally allowable activity, the hours must be combined with the aided parent’s participation hours exclusively to determine if CalWORKs federal standards are met.
      
3. Unaided parent contribution:
   
   In a two-parent household where an aided parent is not participating in WtW activities and an unaided parent who is not work eligible (undocumented, or Social Security Supplemental Income parent) is working 35 hours per week, the unaided parent cannot:
   
   
   • Meet the weekly participation requirement for the family; or
   • Combine hours with the aided parent to meet the weekly participation requirement.
     
     Note: Meaning, the aided parent is not excused from participation in WtW activities when the non-work eligible unaided parent is employed 35 hours per week.

Documentation and Verification of Employment

Subsidized/Unsubsidized employment must be verified via third-party documentation (e.g., confirmed by the employer on business letterhead, pay stubs, etc.) prior to adding the employment record and activity in CalSAWS.

Note: GSW/CCM must review CIS to verifiy if any
third-party documents have been submitted with the SAR 7 or Annual Redetermination before requesting such verification from the participant.

Initial Verification of Employment

The following are acceptable documents to verify a new employment:

1. PA 1672-1, Request for Employment Verification;
   
   
2. ST1-20, Verification of Employment form issued by the Resource and Referral/ Alternative Payment Program;
   
   
3. Letter from employer on business letterhead; or
   
   
4. GN 6006W, Work Study Service Provider Referral Form (This form is only acceptable to verify Work Study).

Note: Work hours reported in the initial verification of employment will be used to project participation hours until the next SAR 7 report or Annual Redetermination, whichever is first. However, when work hours reported in the initial verification vary, then the participant will need to immediately provide at least one full pay cycle i.e., weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly of documented actual hours of work.

Ongoing Verification of Employment

1. For CalWORKs eligible participants, after the initial employment has been reported, subsequent verification must include the actual number of hours worked per week. Third party verification must be provided with the participant’s SAR 7 Report or Annual Redetermination.
   
   
2. Employment hours for CalWORKs discontinued participants must be verified monthly.
   
   
3. Third-party information sources are acceptable for ongoing employment verification. These sources include:
   
   
   • Paystubs;
   • PA 167, Monthly Earnings Report;
   • Employer produced documents (written on company letterhead); or
   • The Work Number System.
      
4. For CalWORKs eligible participants, employment hours will be projected using the actual hours worked reported by the participant as mentioned above for the next six-month period.

Monthly Attendance Verification

The GN 6365, Monthly Attendance Report must be completed for the following concurrent PES activities:

• Vocational Training;
• Self-Initiated Program;
• Work Experience;
• Job Skills Training;
• Community Services;
• Remedial Education;
• Work Study;
• PTL Services;
• Life Skills; and/or
• Short-Term Vocational Training.

Note: The GN 6365 is not generated for employment or Job Search activities. Employment hours can be projected for up to six months based on actual hours reported with the SAR 7 or Annual Redetermination forms and other employer-issued documentation. This applies to CalWORKs eligible participants. For CalWORKs discontinued participants, employment hours must be verified monthly to continue receiving PES.

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