Employment Services Referrals - Benefits Staff Procedures

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All CalWORKs clients must be referred to CWES unless they are exempt from participation. The state requires counties to complete an initial WTW Plan within 90 days of establishing CalWORKs eligibility for each WTW client. The EW must ensure that the client understands their responsibility to cooperate with Employment Services.

Exemption Request

If the client requests consideration for an exemption, the EW must issue the “CalWORKs and Welfare to Work Time Limit Exemption Request Form”

(CW 2186A) to the client to determine if the client is exempt from CWES participation. All exemptions must be verified.

The CW 2186A must be provided by the EW when the client:

Requests to be exempt from CWES participation, or
Disagrees with the CWES participation requirement.

Exemption Determination

The “CalWORKs and Welfare to Work Time Limit Exemption Determination” (CW 2186B) must be completed by the EW and provided to the client who requests an exemption. The CW 2186B is used for notification of the exemption approval or denial. The original CW 2186B is given to the client and a copy is Imaged into the case.

Mandatory and Voluntary Referrals

The EW must refer all mandatory and voluntary CalWORKs clients to Employment Services at the following times:

At Intake, after a break in aid of more than 30 days,
When a previously exempt individual loses their exemption,
When an exempt individual volunteers to participate,
At redetermination, if the individual's status has changed.

A volunteer may withdraw from CWES participation without any financial sanction as long as he/she remains exempt. Volunteers who fail to show at orientation will be immediately de-registered.

Informing Requirements

Inform clients of the following:

Their rights and responsibilities and the Financial Sanction penalties for non-cooperation.
Core & Non-Core Activities (provide informing notice)
Requirement to attend Employment Services Orientation (they will receive an appointment notice in the mail)
The ES Orientation takes three to four hours.
The client cannot bring children to the ES Orientation. If the client needs to arrange child care for the Orientation, they should call 4C’s at least one week prior to the Orientation. The phone number for clients to call is: (408) 928-3622.

Referral When Employment Services Status Changes

When an individual’s Employment Services registration status changes, the EW must take appropriate action to modify the Employment Services pages in CalSAWS.