Sawyer v. Anderson

Issue

AFDC/RCA/ECA recipients must be allowed the AFDC earned income disregards against Temporary Worker's Compensation (TWC) or Temporary Disability Indemnity payments (TDI).

Date

This change was effective with AFDC payments made in January, 1996, for currently eligible recipients. The retroactive portion of the Sawyer order will be processed beginning January 1, 1996 and ends March 31, 1996.

Retroactivity

The retroactive portion of this claim is effective from January 1, 1991 through December 31, 1995.

Benefits for the period prior to July 1992 will only be paid if the receipt of AFDC and TWC/TDI payment is indicated in the case record during the time period of January 1, 1991 through June 30, 1992. If the case record no longer exists or does not indicate receipt of a TWC/TDI payment, no benefits will be granted.

Identification

Cases which are eligible for recalculation of their income have been tracked through the CDS system back through 1994.

Informing

It is required that a poster be placed in each District Office and in the CET offices. The poster informs potential class members that they can make a claim and is to be displayed from January 2, 1996 through March 31, 1996.

Required Action

The CROP Unit will process all retroactive Sawyer claims.

The District Office Social Services Benefits Specialists (SSBSs) and/or clerical staff are responsible for:

Providing the client with the Sawyer claim form “Welfare May Owe You Money” (TEMP 2107), if the client requests,
Sending the case to the CROP Unit, if requested,
Following any instructions provided by CROP SSBS to complete the application process.

Application

The CROP Unit will process retroactive Sawyer claims.

If a client is determined to be eligible for a corrective underpayment on a closed case, the CROP SSBS will:

Balance any underpayment against outstanding overpayment balances, and
Issue any remaining benefit to the client.

On active cases, instructions will be provided to the case carrying SSBS using the “EDP Overpayment Instructions” (SC 1580) when action below is needed to:

Offset any overpayments with Sawyer corrective underpayments by reducing the balance owing on the current EDP, or
Establish any overpayments by entering the appropriate BIC codes.

The SSBS must take the required actions within 10 working days of the receipt of the SC 1580.

Reminder: The Sawyer payment is exempt as income or resources in the AFDC program.