Noncompliance - Financial Sanctions

Sanction Rule

A financial sanction must be applied when a mandatory (nonexempt) CWES client fails or refuses to comply with CWES program requirements, without good cause, and:

• Compliance efforts have failed, or
• The individual has not fulfilled the terms of the written compliance plan that he or she agreed to complete.

To avoid a sanction, the client must agree to enter into a compliance plan within the 20-day period and subsequently complete the plan as required. A sanction will result in a reduction to the family’s grant by removing the non-complying individual from the AU until the client contacts the county to cure the sanction and meets the requirements to cure.

Reminder: A volunteer who is not in compliance with CWES is exempt from the program.

Sanction Period

There is no minimum sanction period to cure financial sanctions. A client who is financially sanctioned may contact the county and request to cure his or her sanction, at any time, regardless of the number of times they are sanctioned.

Time Excluded from 60-Month Limit

Any month in which a client is under a sanction and removed from the AU will not be counted as a month of receipt of aid in determining the 60-month time limit.

Sanction Effective Date

The sanction is effective on the first day of the month following discontinuance from cash aid. The discontinuance of cash aid is effective the first day of the first payment month that the sanctioned individual’s needs are removed from the grant following timely and adequate notification.

Exception: When an individual meets CWES program requirements prior to the effective discontinuance date, the financial sanction is not imposed. Refer to Stopping a Sanction Before Financial Penalty.

Determining Who to Sanction

During the sanction period, aid must be discontinued for the individual, depending upon the relationship of the non-complying individual to the AU.

The spouse or second parent in a two-parent case will NOT be sanctioned along with the CalWORKs Employment Services registrant until he/she has gone through their own noncompliance process and is subsequently removed from the AU on their own sanction.