MFIP Sanctions

1. MFIP Sanctions Ellen Smart, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid eesmart@mylegalaid.org

2. What is a sanction? • A client’s MFIP grant is reduced by 10% to 100% because the client is not doing something that is required. • Two types of sanctions: • Child support sanctions (implemented by the child support worker) • MFIP sanctions implemented by the employment counselor or a financial worker

3. Sanction Reductions • First sanction: 10% reduction. (Child support sanctions start at 30% even if it’s the first one.) • Second through sixth sanction: 30% reduction. • Seventh+ sanction: 100% case closure. Client must cure the sanction and reapply before the case will open again. • A grant cannot be sanctioned more than once each month.

4. Effect on Grant A family of four with no other income receives $621 in cash and $604 in SNAP($1225 total). • At 10%, the family’s cash drops to $498.50 (SNAP stays at $604). • At 30%, the family’s cash drops to $253.50 (SNAP stays at $604). • SNAP can also be reduced if there is not enough cash to cover the sanction.

5. Child Support Sanctions • Clients can be sanctioned for noncooperation with child support. • Child support sanctions start at 30% . Minn. Stat. § 256J.246, subd. 2. • During the sanction, the client is also cut off Medical Assistance (MA). Minn. Stat. § 256.741, subd. 8(b)(3). • Written notification to the client is required.

6. Child Support Good Cause • Available to clients who can demonstrate that they or their children may be harmed if a child support case is pursued. • After the client alleges good cause, child support collection efforts must stop while the client works on her good cause application. • Clients are automatically given 20 days, but that time may be extended.

7. MFIP Sanctions • Sanctions are implemented by the financial worker or employment counselor. • Sanctions can only be implemented by the financial worker if the client misses the initial benefits overview. • Client must be sent a Notice of Intent to Sanction (NOITS) before the sanction is implemented.

8. Reasons for MFIP Sanctions • Not attending an MFIP or employment services overview. • Failing to create/renew/follow an employment plan. • Refusal to complete questionnaires or assessments re: chemical health, mental health, or learning needs. • Quitting or not accepting suitable employment. • Not attending school. (Parents must attend school if under 18 and can choose between school and work if under 20.)

9. Notice of Intent to Sanction (NOITS) • A NOITS is the notice your client must receive before an MFIP sanction is imposed. • Things that must be on the NOITS: date, reason for the sanction, what the client has to do to make it right before the sanction is imposed, a deadline, a language block, and appeal rights (including the client’s right to a conciliation conference with the job counselor). • The client must be given at least 10 days to comply. • Watch the reason for the sanction closely. Is it for failure to do an activity on the plan? If not, is the reason valid?

10. Implementing a Sanction • Once a NOITS has expired, the job counselor sends a status update to the county imposing the sanction. The client receives a notice from the county that they are in sanction. • If the status update is not received or processed towards the end of the month (usually after the 22nd), it will not be implemented until the following month. • If your client “cures” a sanction at the end of the month, the next month’s grant will be reduced at first. In a couple of weeks, a supplement will be issued for the difference.

11. Your Client Gets a NOITS • What is the date on the NOITS? Appeal and/or request a conciliation conference. • Is the NOITS adequate? • Did your client fail to do the activity specified on the NOITS? • What is going on with your client? Why didn’t s/he comply?

12. Sanction Defenses • 60 or over • Client or household member ill or disabled • Domestic violence • Personal or family crisis • Lack of transportation or child care and other good cause reasons • Child under 12 months (Minn. Stat. § 256J.561, subd. 3) • Employment plan was not appropriate or was asking the client to do too much • Be creative • Client meets a Family Stabilization Services (FSS) category

13. Employment Plan Issues • Are the hours requirements valid? No matter how many hours are on the plan, clients cannot be sanctioned for doing at least this (Minn. Stat. § 256J.55, subd. 1(c)): • 87 hours/month in a one-parent household with a child under 6 • 130 hours/month in a one-parent household with no children under 6 • 55 hours/week total for two-parent households • Does the plan meet the needs of your client? Is your client capable of what the plan requires?

14. Good Cause Reasons • Lack of transportation • Lack of child care • Quit because employment was unsuitable • Client or child has to go to court • Client has to go to child’s school because of a problem (or client has to stay home with child who is suspended) • Client is already in suitable work activities • Other emergencies like funerals

15. Creativity • Common-sense reasons which may or may not resonate with the job counselor. • Client is 37 weeks pregnant, and her plan calls for 35 hours of job search per week. • Client is the victim of identity theft, so job search is useless.

16. Child Under 12 Months • Not an exemption or good cause but useful in avoiding sanctions. • A household can be exempt from cooperating with employment services for up to one year if there is a child under 12 months in the household. • Only one parent at a time can use this. • 12 months total, not 12 months per child.

17. Client Ill or Disabled • Is your client unable to participate in activities for less than 30 days? Over 30 days? • Less than 30: A doctor’s note should excuse your client from activities for those days. • Over 30: Clients need a more detailed form from their doctor. • Other: Low IQ, learning disabilities, etc.

18. Household Member Ill or Disabled • Needed in the home (30 days or more) • Severe & Persistent Mental Illness (adults) and Severe Emotional Disorder (children)* • Home care/waivered services* • Temporary illnesses * Banked months!

19. Domestic Violence • If violence can explain noncompliance, the client should develop a family violence waiver (FVW), and the sanction should be cured. • FVW Benefits: • FVW clients cannot be sanctioned for failure to attend group employment services overviews. • The months an FVW is in place do not count towards the 60-month limit. • Employment plan requirements can be relaxed in terms of activities and hours. • Extension basis!

20. Family Violence Waivers • Part of the employment plan. • Must be written with the client, the employment counselor, and a person trained in domestic violence(advocate). Each county must have an advocate available. • Requires proof. See Minn. Stat. § 256J.545. • Clients cannot be required to get an OFP/HRO, participate with court proceedings, call the police go to counseling, or take their children to counseling.

21. Family Violence Waivers and Sanctions • Once a client tells the employment counselor about domestic violence, a referral to an advocate should be made. • If a client has a FVW, they should not be required to attend a group employment services overview.b • If domestic violence can explain noncompliance, the sanction should be lifted for prior months, too.

22. Problems with Family Violence Waivers • Client tells her job counselor about violence, and the job counselor does nothing. • Job counselor tells the client she have to have an OFP to qualify or cannot live with the abuser. • Job counselor singlehandedly makes the determination that the violence isn’t serious, recent, or believable. • Renewal issues (job counselor wants additional proof or thinks the client should be “over it by now”).

23. Seventh Sanction Issues • Before implementing a 100% sanction, the job counselor must follow certain procedures, including attempting to meet with the client. Minn. Stat. § 256J.246, sub. 1(d). • This is the only time job counselors must go back and review prior sanctions even though the appeal time has run, so use this to your advantage! Minn. Stat. § 256J.246, subd. 1(d)(3).

24. Other Sanction Issues • If a client is in sanction during her 60th month, s/he is not eligible for extensions, so it is important to identify these cases quickly. • Get the sanctions panel from a financial worker if you do not know how many times your client has been sanctioned and a time panel if your client does not know what month s/he is in.

25. Family Stabilization Services (FSS) • If the client receives FSS, there are extra steps the employment counselor must take before imposing a sanction in Minn. Stat. § 256J.575, subd. 7(d). These are things like attempting a face-to-face meeting and reviewing the file. • Many of the “sanction defenses” are FSS criteria. • If the employment counselor should know or suspects your client qualifies for FSS before it’s been proven, your client should still get FSS’s heightened sanction protection. • In some cases, your client will be moved to an FSS-only employment service provider.

26. FSS Criteria • Parent applying for Social Security benefits • Clients with family violence waivers • Parents 60 or over • Non-citizen who has been in the U.S. for under a year • Client ill/incapacitated for over 30 days • Household member who meets SED/SPMI standards or gets waivered services • Needed in the home • Client is developmentally disabled/mentally ill/has an IQ under 80 and has been assessed to be severely limited in ability to find or maintain employment • Client is considered unemployable

27. Further information • Minn. Stat. § 256J • DHS Website (http://mn.gov/dhs/) • Combined Manual • Employment Service Manuals • Bulletins • Appeals & Regulations Division (for appeals forms, fax number, etc.) • Forms • www.lawhelpmn.org(links to fact sheets and other legal services info) • Hennepin County’s employment services website (information about job counselors and has links to DHS forms and manuals) (http://www.hennepin.us/portal/site/HennepinUS/menuitem.b1ab75471750e40fa01dfb47ccf06498/?vgnextoid=a68891a45c2f3210VgnVCM20000048114689RCRD)