Vendor Payment and/or Designated Alternate Cardholders

[EAS 44-303.34 & 44-307.12]

Anytime a parent or caretaker relative has been sanctioned for a minimum of three consecutive months, the CalWORKs grant must be issued via a Vendor Payment (VP) to the landlord and/or to a DAC.

The CalWORKs grant must continue to be issued via VP/DAC until the adult(s) is no longer subject to the Employment Services sanction. Once the client is eligible for an exemption or has cured his/her sanction, the VP/DAC must be terminated and the grant must be issued directly to the client.

Failure to comply with the VP requirements and assign a DAC, will result in the discontinuance of the Assistance Unit’s (AUs) CalWORKs benefits. The discontinuance reason must be clearly documented as “Failure to comply with the VP requirements.”

If... Then...
The client chooses to assign a DAC, The entire grant amount must be issued to the DAC.
The client chooses VP and the rent amount is more than the CalWORKs grant, The entire CalWORKs grant amount is issued via a Vendor Payment to the landlord to pay for a portion of the rent amount. Explore how client is meeting needs.
The client chooses VP and the rent amount is less than the CalWORKs grant The entire rent amount is paid to the landlord via a Vendor Payment.
The client must also assign a DAC.
The remaining grant amount must be issued to a DAC.
Note: If after making all reasonable efforts, an appropriate individual cannot be appointed as a DAC, the remaining grant amount may be issued directly to the client.
The landlord refuses to provide the necessary information,  The CalWORKs grant must be issued to a DAC.
The client refuses to comply with the VP/DAC requirements, The AU’s CalWORKs benefits must be discontinued for failure to provide the necessary documentation and/or information to comply with the Vendor Payment process.
The landlord refuses to provide the necessary information and the client does not have anyone to serve as the DAC and CW will fail if client not part of AU, Follow the One-Day Lift Work Flow.

Refer to “VENDOR PAYMENT PROCESS, page -1 of the Business Process for detailed information regarding Vendor Payment.

Vendor Payment and Sanctions

All clients who have been sanctioned for 3 or more consecutive months and reapply for CalWORKs on or after 4/1/2010 will be required to comply with the VP/DAC requirements before CalWORKs can be approved for the AU, if otherwise eligible.

Sanctions from Other Counties

When a client is sanctioned in another county (for more than 90 days) the individual would remain sanctioned in Santa Clara County; however the Vendor Payment requirements would not apply at the point of intake. The remaining AU members would be approved for CW, if eligible. The individual must be referred to CWES for WTW compliance. After, the sanctioned individual has not complied with the work requirements for 90 days in Santa Clara county, then the client would be subject to the Vendor Payment requirements.

Example Example The client applies for CW for herself and her 2 children in Santa Clara county on 4/20. the intake EW reviews the case and sees that the client has an uncured sanction from San Mateo county since 2009. If otherwise eligible, the two children are approved for CW and the sanctioned adult is denied. The client is not yet subject to the Vendor Payment requirements; however, she is referred to CWES to comply with the work requirements. If by 7/19 (90 days) the client has not complied with CWES, the client will be required to comply with the Vendor Payment requirements by 8/1 in order to prevent discontinuance of the entire case for failure to provide.

Vendor Payment and DAC

When the client selects DAC, the following rules and restrictions must be explained to the client:

  • The DAC must not be currently receiving aid (i.e., has a case active on either CalWORKs, RCA or CalFresh (including TFS).
  • The DAC may be receiving Medi-Cal only benefits.
  • The DAC must not be living with the client.
  • The DAC must not be the absent parent.
  • The DAC must not be an SSA employee.
  • The DAC must provide valid ID, complete the DAC form.

Note: The DAC may reside in a neighboring county; however, if the situation appears to be suspicious the EW/EC may do a fraud referral for further investigation.

Vendor Payment DAC & SSI Recipients

If an SSI/SSP recipient does not have an open case for themselves with Social Services (i.e. CalFresh, GA, etc) he/she may be a DAC for a VP client. If the SSI adult is only a DAC in a case, then the SSI adult can be a DAC in another case. If the SSI adult is the parent of children in a CalWORKs or CalFresh case and the case payee, then the SSI adult cannot be a DAC in another case.

Note: If the SSI recipient is on an open MC only case, this person may be selected to be a DAC in another case.

Example 1 Example 1 SSI mom and her two children are on a CW/CalFresh case, SSI mom is the payee. The SSI mom cannot be a DAC for another case.

Example 2 Example 2 SSI grandmother is the NNCTR for her grandson and the payee for his CW benefits. The SSI grandmother can be a DAC for another case.

Refer to “Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT),” page 16-1]of the Common Place Handbook for detailed information regarding DAC.

One-Day Lift for Sanctioned Individuals

A sanction may be lifted in one day if a applicant or recipient meets any one of the following criteria:

  • Sanctioned previous to CalSAWS-6/1/05,
  • Good Cause for domestic abuse referral,
  • Good Cause for homelessness-must be verified,
  • If AU of 1 due to child on SSI or pregnant with no other children,
  • Client is exempt due to:
    • Medical exemption,
    • Caregiver of an ill/incapacitated household member,
    • Young Child Exemption
      • 0-23 month exemption or
      • 3-month exemption or
      • 6-month exemption,
  • Sanctioned from another County,
  • Client is full-time employed,
  • DFCS Common Case.

Note: When the applicant’s landlord refuses to cooperate with the VP process and the applicant does not have anyone to appoint as the DAC the One-Day Lift Work Flow should be followed.

One-Day Lift Work Flow for Intake

  1. Intake EW  
    1. Clears all other CW eligibility factors.

      1. Note: If the client is Pending for other eligibility factors/verifications, do not refer to CWES until the applicant complies to prevent erroneous referrals.

    2. Contacts the CWES Engagement Unit OD to determine what the client needs to do in order to lift the sanction.

      1. Note: The CWES Engagement Unit OD calendar is e-mailed to AAC, CBS, North County and South County on a monthly basis.

    3. Enters WTW drop-down   Journal Type in the Journal Detail page.
    4. In the Short Description enter Vendor Payment and adds Journal entry.
  2. Engagement EC 
    1. Reviews the case for possibility to process a one-day lift and provides the CWES Orientation information to the EW.
    2.  Enters WTW drop-down   Journal Type in the Journal Detail page.
    3. In the Short Description enter Vendor Payment  and adds Journal entry.
  3. Intake EW     
    1. The CW application will be left in Pending status to allow the applicant to attend the CWES Orientation.
  4. Engagement EC
    1. Clears the Orientation Roster and confirms the case is in Pending status for Vendor Payment/DAC only.
      1. When the individual qualifies for the one-day lift, the EC will follow sanction lift business process.
      2. When the applicant does not qualify for the one-day lift, the EC will document findings using the Vendor Pay drop-down and will make a courtesy call to the EW. The client will be advised of regular sanction process.
  5. Intake EW  
    1. When the applicant is the 30-day curing process and there are no other eligible members in the AU, the CW application should remain pending until the sanction is lifted or the client has failed to cure the sanction by the 30th day.
    2. When the AU contains the sanctioned applicant and the applicant refuses to cooperate with the VP/DAC requirement or to cooperate with CWES to lift the sanction, deny the CW application with NOA M40-171A.

One-Day Lift Work Flow for Continuing

  1. Continuing EW
    1. Discovers that the sanctioned recipient meets one of the One-Day Lift criteria.
    2. Contacts the CWES to determine what the client needs to do in order to lift the sanction.
      1. When the WTW Program is unassigned-contact the CWES Engagement Unit OD.

        1. Note: The CWES Engagement Unit OD calendar is e-mailed to AAC, CBS, North County and South County on a monthly basis.

      2. When the WTW Program is assigned-contact the assigned EC.
    3. Enters WTW drop-down   Journal Type in the Journal Detail page.
    4. In the Short Description enter Vendor Payment  and adds Journal entry.
  2. Engagement EC or Assigned EC
    1. Reviews the case for possibility to process a one-day lift and provides the CWES Orientation information to the EW.
    2. Enters WTW drop-down   Journal Type in the Journal Detail page.
    3. In the Short Description enter Vendor Payment  and adds Journal entry.
    4. Clears the Orientation Roster and confirms the case is in Active status.
      1. When the individual qualifies for the one-day lift, the EC will follow sanction lift business process.
    5. When the recipient does not qualify for the one-day lift, the EC will document findings in the Journal Detail page and will make a courtesy call to the EW.
  3. Continuing EW
    1. When the client complies, follow the Lift Sanction instructions per Task Creation instructions.
    2. When the AU contains a sanctioned individual and refuses to cooperate with the VP/DAC requirement or to cooperate with CWES to lift the sanction, discontinue the CW Program with NOA M40-126.342.

Scenarios

Scenario 1: One-parent Case

  1. The case is discontinued effective 8/31 for Failure To Provide.
  2. On 9/6, the client contacts CWES to cure the sanction and attends Orientation.
    1. In order to have the sanction lifted the client must still participate for 30 days (until 10/6) with CWES.
    2. CWES refers the client to the appropriate continuing benefits office for Application Registration and VP/DAC compliance.
  3. On 9/16, the client provides VP/DAC documentation.
    1. Continuing will restore CalWORKs for the children effective the date of reapplication.
  4. On 10/7, CWES lifts the sanction effective 10/1 and notifies the EW.
    1. The EW will add the parent to the CalWORKs grant effective 10/1.
    2. The VP/DAC will end on 10/7.

Note: The VP/DAC is already issued for the current month (Oct.). The supplement due to addition of parent, must be issued to parent, not the landlord. The entire grant amount for the future month (Nov.) is issued to the parent.

Scenario 2: One-parent Case

  1. The case is discontinued effective 8/31 for Failure To Provide.
  2. On 9/6, the client contacts CWES to cure sanction and attends Orientation.
    1. In order to have the sanction lifted the client must still participate for 30 days (until 10/6) with CWES.
    2. Continuing takes the application and “App. registers” the case and schedules a VP/DAC appointment.
  3. The client does NOT provide VP/DAC.
  4. The EW will deny the reapplication and notify CWES of the denial.

Scenario 3: Intake Case

  1. The sanctioned client applies for CalWORKs on 2/19. The client is interviewed and determined and the AU is CW eligible on 3/10.
  2. The client chooses VP, however rent has already been paid for February and March.
  3. The client must also choose a DAC, in order to issue CW benefits for February and March to the EBT account. Effective April, rent will be paid directly to the landlord with Vendor Payment

Scenario 4: Continuing Case

  1. The case is set up for Vendor Payment. The rent amount is $300 and the grant amount is $250. Therefore all of the CW grant amount is issued directly to the landlord on a monthly basis as a Vendor Payment.
  2. There is a budget change in the client’s CalWORKs grant determination that will result in an additional $80 in CalWORKs, thus the new grant amount is $330.
  3. The client must also assign a DAC in order to issue the remaining $30 in CW grant (after $300 is issued as a vendor payment to the landlord).

Scenario 5: ICT Case

A CalWORKs case is transferred from Solano County. The adult in the case had been sanctioned for more than 3 months in the other county.

The sanctioned adult must cooperate with CWES or comply with the VP/DAC requirement within 90 days. If the client fails to comply with the VP/DAC requirement, the AU will be discontinued from CalWORKs.

Scenario 6: Selects Vendor Payment Unable to Appoint a DAC for Remaining Amount

A client subject to the VP requirements chooses to have the CW grant issued via Vendor Payment to her landlord. The Client’s rent is $90 and her total grant is $516. She must appoint a DAC to be issued the remaining CW grant amount.

The client chooses to appoint her sister as her DAC. After reviewing CalSAWS it is determined the client’s sister cannot be her DAC since she is also receiving CW benefits.

The client then chooses to appoint her uncle as her DAC. Her uncle is currently employed at SSA and therefore is also not eligible to be a DAC. The client has no further individuals she can appoint as a DAC.

In this scenario, the client has complied with the VP requirements but was unable to provide an eligible DAC for Vendor Payment. The remaining CW grant amount would be issued to the client.

Scenario 7: AU of One Unable to Select Vendor Payment and Does not Have Anyone to Appoint as a DAC

An AU of One is subject to the VP/DAC requirements does not have a landlord that is willing to accept VP for rent and the applicant does not have anyone to appoint as a DAC.

The applicant is willing to cooperate with CWES to lift the sanction and is eligible for a one-day lift.

In this scenario, once the sanction is lifted, there is no requirement for VP/DAC as applicant will be added to AU.

Related Topics

CalWORKs Employment Services (CWES) Sanctions