Ceja v. Carlson

Issue

The decision in the Ceja v. Carlson court case requires that in the AFDC budget computation the income of immigrants legalized under the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 be deemed according to the stepparent deeming formula.

Dates

The prospective portion of the Ceja court order was implemented effective July 1, 1991.

The retroactive portion will be implemented January 2, 1995.

The claim period is from January 2, 1995 through April 1, 1995.
The retroactive period for any possible benefit determination is from June 1988 through June 1991.

Identification

Cases which are potentially affected by Ceja are identified in CDS by the entry of a “C” in the Special Characteristics “D” field on the [HSHD] Screen.

Informing

It is required that a poster be placed in each District Office and in the CET offices. The State Department of Social Services (SDSS) will also publicize the Ceja order through Spanish language radio stations, press releases and newspapers during the claim period.

If a client calls and wishes to make a claim, the case-carrying EW must review the case file and if the case is not coded as a potential Ceja, provide a “Extra Cash Aid Claim Form - Ceja v. Carlson” (TEMP 2077A) to the client.

Required Action

Case-carrying EWs have minimal responsibility in the implementation of the retroactive portion of the Ceja court order. The CROP Unit is responsible for the retroactive processing of the claim. The case-carrying EW must take prompt action:

If any claim forms are received directly from the client, or
To comply with the instructions received from the CROP Unit.

CROP Unit

When the CROP EW asks to borrow a case in order to process a potential Ceja retroactive determination, the case-carrying EW must insure that the case is sent to CROP as soon as possible. There are court mandated timelines which must be kept.