County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSAGeneral Relief Program Guide GRPG Employable Program Sanctions Number Page 9070019 1 of 3 Revision Date December 1 2021 A BackgroundThis section provides information on the GR Employable Program sanctions Purpose This section has been reformatted and guidance from Program Inquiry 1601 has been incorporated Policy B Ineligibility due to Sanction Customers who fail without good cause to cooperate with Employable Program requirements Work Project WP or Supervised Job Search SJS will be temporarily ineligible for further GR as an employable individual from the date following the effective date of discontinuance when it has been determined that the failure was willful C Definition of Willful NonCompliance Willful noncompliance is defined as failure to comply with published and signed expectations when there was no good cause for the failure as determined by the CalFresh Employment and Training ET Social Worker SW It is an intentional refusal to comply andor an indifferent disregard of the duty to comply with program requirements The CalFresh ET SW will check the case to be sure there is a completed and signed 1149 HHSA General Relief Employable Program Responsibilities or 1149M HHSA General Relief Employable Program Responsibilities MAPC on file since this is the published statement of program expectations for employable recipients Willful noncompliance will result in a sanction D Timely Notice When the CalFresh ET SW notifies the Human Services Specialist HSS of a program violation subject to sanctions a Notice of Action NOA will be issued prior to discontinuance and imposition of the sanction This NOA will serve two purposes First it will inform the recipient to contact the ET SW within five days to explain the failure to complete the program requirements Secondly it will be a notice that the case will close in 10 days E Customer Does Not Respond If the recipient does not respond the case will be closed with a sanction A recipient may later present information which shows there was good cause for the noncooperation and that no sanction should have been imposed The new intake HSS must then forward the information to the CalFresh ET SW to determine if good cause exists If good cause is found the sanction will be lifted F Customer Responds If the recipient responds the HSS will forward the information to the CalFresh ET SW to evaluate the information presented to determine if there was good cause If good cause exists the case will continue and the termination will not occur Use Form 1167 HHSA GR Good Cause Determination to determine good cause County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSAGeneral Relief Program Guide GRPG Employable Program Sanctions Number Page 9070019 2 of 3 G Sanction Periods Periods of ineligibility as an Employable Program recipient include One month for returning the SJS Verification Form after the indicated due date o Note The onemonth sanction period for failure to cooperate in returning form 117 HHSA on time shall not result in any cumulative penalty The penalty shall be a onemonth sanction period for each separate noncooperation regardless of how often the noncooperation occurs One month for employable students failing to attend school having more than two unexcused absences or returning school verifications after they are due Three months for failure to return or failure to submit the required job applications failure to attend orientation or failure to attend and complete the Work Test or WP assignment The employable sanctions listed above shall apply only so long as the recipient is employable The sanction period runs from the date imposed and automatically expires at the end of the period Once the sanction period is imposed applications as an Unemployable UE or Incapacitated Program IP applicant shall not be affected nor shall the sanction period be extended during such periods of unemployability Applicants who claim to be incapacitated during part of the employable aid cycle shall be required to provide evidence of unemployability or shall have the previous employable aid discontinued Applicants on the first sanction in a sixmonth period may receive aid under Modified Aid Payment Cycle MAPC after a 30day waiting period regardless of the length of the sanction Refer to General Relief Program Guide GRPG 9070022 for MAPC requirements H Sanctions for Married Couples Because of the spouse for spouse responsibility each Employable spouse is responsible for cooperating with all Employable Program requirements If Then either employable spouse is nonboth spouses shall be ineligible for further aid as cooperative Employable applicants during the sanction period one spouse is UE or IP that spouse shall continue to be eligible for GR as UE or IP regardless of the cooperation of the employable spouse the employable spouse is nononly the employable spouse is ineligible during the sanction cooperative period I Orange County Sanctions All GR applicants who apply in San Diego County and are found to be within the timeframe of Orange Countys sanction period whether discovered through the Orange County data match the MediCal Eligibility Data System MEDSIncome Eligibility Verification System IEVS system or any other verifiable method will be denied GR benefits in San Diego County through the end of the period of ineligibility in Orange County Applicants who become Incapacitated are exempt from an employable sanction imposed in Orange County but remain ineligible if under a system abuse penalty for the full period of the penalty period County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency HHSAGeneral Relief Program Guide GRPG Employable Program Sanctions Number Page 9070019 3 of 3 of Orange County If cases are denied HSSs must clearly state on the NOA that the applicants were sanctioned in Orange County J Sanctions and the 12Month Period TMP and Period of Eligibility POE Refer to Desk Aid 9070019A Sanctions and the 12Month Period TMP and Period of Eligibility POE for examples regarding how to apply sanctions Program Inquiry 1601 has been incorporated into the Desk Aid as Example 7 Procedures None Program Impacts None References County Policy Sunset Date This policy will be reviewed for continuance by November 30 2024 Approval for Release Rick Wanne Director SelfSufficiency Services