42-701 INTRODUCTION TO WELFARE-TO-WORK

(a) Broader service scope. By reducing the number of adults eligible for exemption, a much larger segment of the adult assistance population is required to participate in work activities.

(b) Minimum hourly participation requirements. All participants will be required to be engaged in employment and training activities for enough hours each week to allow for substantial progress toward employment goals.

(c) Flexibility in the types of activities recipients can participate in for 24 months. During a Welfare-to-Work 24-Month Time Clock period, adult recipients can participate in any of the CalWORKs activities they need, consistent with their assessments, to obtain employment and become self-sufficient. After this 24-month period is exhausted, adult recipients are limited to activities that meet CalWORKs federal standards in order for the adult to continue receiving cash aid.

(d) Expanded supportive services. In addition to child care, transportation, and ancillary services provided under GAIN, welfare-to-work supportive services will include, but not be limited to, mental health, substance abuse, and domestic abuse services.

HANDBOOK ENDS HERE

.2 Definitions for Terms Used in This Chapter

(a) (1) "Adult Basic Education" means a welfare-to-work activity which includes instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, high school proficiency, or general educational development certificate instruction, and English-as-a-second-language.

(b) Reserved

NONLINKING FACTORS OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY

(c) (1) "CalWORKs Federal Standards" means the participation requirements, specified in Section 42-709, a recipient may meet in order to not have a month count toward his or her Welfare-to-Work 24-Month Time Clock, specified in Section 42-708. It also means the participation requirements an adult recipient must meet when he or she has exhausted his or her Welfare-to-Work 24-Month Time Clock in order for the adult to remain eligible for cash aid.

(2) "CalWORKs Minimum Standards" means the minimum participation requirements an individual must meet, as described in Section 42-711.41, when he or she has months remaining on his or her Welfare-to-Work 24-Month Time Clock.

(3) "CDSS" means the California Department of Social Services.

(4) "Certificate" means a document issued by a two or four year accredited college, ROP/C Program, or adult education provider indicating that the individual has achieved a specified level of educational/vocational proficiency.

(5) "Community Service" means a welfare-to-work training activity that is temporary and transitional, is performed in the public or private nonprofit sector under the close supervision of the activity provider, and provides participants with basic job skills that can lead to employment while meeting a community need.

(6) "County Welfare Department (CWD)" means the agency that administers the CalWORKs program at the county level.

(7) "Custodial Parent" means the parent(s) who lives with the child.

(d) (1) "Degree" means a document issued by a two or four year accredited college or university indicating that individual has successfully completed a prescribed course of study.

(2) "Doctor" means a health care professional who is licensed by a state to diagnose/treat physical and mental impairments that can affect an individual's ability to work or participate in welfare-to-work activities. "Doctor" includes, but is not limited to, doctors of medicine, osteopathy, chiropractic, and licensed/certified psychologists.

(3) "Domestic Abuse" means assaultive or coercive behavior which includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, economic control, stalking, isolation, threats, or other types of coercive behaviors occurring within a domestic relationship.

(4) "Domestic Relationships" are relationships between or among:

(A) Adults or minors who are a current or former spouse;

NONLINKING FACTORS OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY

(B) Adults or minors who live together or have lived together;

(C) Adults or minors who are dating or have dated;

(D) Adults or minors who are engaged in or who have engaged in a sexual relationship;

(E) Adults or minors who are related by blood or adoption;

(F) Adults or minors who are or formerly were related by marriage;

(G) Adults or minors who are engaged or were formerly engaged to be married;

(H) Persons who have a child in common;

(5) Domestic abuse is also abuse perpetrated:

(A) Against minor children of persons in Sections 42-701.2(d)(4)(A) through (H); or

(B) When an adult or minor acts in concert with or on behalf of a perpetrator in a relationship identified in Sections 42-701.2(d)(4)(A) through (H).

(e) (1) "Education Directly Related to Employment" means education related to a specific occupation, job, or job offer. The activity is primarily for adult education leading to a General Educational Development (GED) credential or high school equivalency diploma, where required as a prerequisite for employment.

(2) "Employment" means work that is compensated at least at the applicable state or federal minimum wage. If neither wage rate applies, the work must be compensated in an amount equivalent to the lesser of the two.

(3) "Exempt" means that a CalWORKs applicant or recipient is not required to participate in Welfare-to-Work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid.

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(f) (1) "Fixed-Unit Price" means a set fee or price for a single component or group of services that achieve a specific goal.

(g) (1) "GAIN" means Greater Avenues for Independence.

(2) "Grant-Based On-The-Job Training (OJT)" is a funding mechanism for subsidized public or private sector employment or OJT in which the recipient's cash grant, or a portion thereof, or the aid grant savings resulting from employment, or both, is diverted to the employer as a wage subsidy to partially or wholly offset the payment of wages to the participant, so long as the total amount diverted does not exceed the family's maximum aid payment. Grant savings from employment is the net nonexempt income from employment, as determined pursuant to Section 44-111.2. Grant-based OJT may include community service positions.

(h) (1) "Homework time," also known as "study time," means any required or recommended time for performing assignments, preparation, or other work for assigned education activities that is outside of classroom, laboratory, or internship hours.

(i) (1) "Intermediary Service Provider" means a public or private agency with a CWD contract that subcontracts with employers to provide training or employment to participants.

(j) (1) "Job Creation Plan" means a county plan for local job creation. The Trade and Commerce Agency provides funding for job creation activities that will provide employment for recipients.

(2) "Job Skills Training Directly Related to Employment" means training or education for job skills required by an employer to provide an individual with the ability to obtain employment or to advance or adapt to the changing demands of the workplace.

(3) "Job Readiness Assistance" means a welfare-to-work activity that provides the recipient with training to learn basic job seeking and interviewing skills, to understand employer expectations, and to learn skills designed to enhance an individual's capacity to move toward self-sufficiency.

(4) "Job Search" means a welfare-to-work activity in which the participant's principal activity is to seek employment.

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(k) Reserved

(l) (1) "License" means a document issued by a governmental agency which grants authority to practice a trade, profession or the like.

(2) “Learning Disabilities” means a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities.

These disorders are intrinsic to the individual and presumed to be due to central nervous system dysfunction. Even though a learning disability may occur together with other handicapping conditions (e.g., sensory or mental impairment); or environmental retardation, social and/or emotional disturbance influences (e.g., cultural differences, insufficient/inappropriate instruction, psychogenic factors); it is not the direct result of those conditions or influences.

For the purposes of the CalWORKs Welfare-to-Work program, these disorders interfere with the participant’s ability to obtain or retain employment or to participate in welfare-to-work activities.

(n) Reserved

(o) (1) "One-parent Assistance Unit", for purposes of Welfare-to-Work Program participation requirements, means an assistance unit that includes only one aided adult who is a natural or adoptive parent, a stepparent, as defined in Section 80-301(s)(11), or another caretaker relative.

(2) "On-the-job Training" means training in the private or public sector that is given to a paid participant while the participant is engaged in productive work. The employer is subsidized to offset training costs. This activity may also include paid classroom instruction as required by the participant’s employer.

(3) "Optional Stepparent" means a stepparent, as defined in Section 80-301(s)(11), who is not the caretaker relative of an eligible child, but has opted into the assistance unit in accordance with Section 82-828.2.

NONLINKING FACTORS OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY

(p) (1) "Performance-based Contract" means training or education under a contract in which payment is made to the contractor only after the achievement of a specified goal.

(2) “Protocol” means procedures, methods, a prescribed plan of action, or a set of rules that will govern actions.

(3) "Pregnant person only," for purposes of Welfare-to-Work Program participation requirements, means an assistance unit that includes only one aided pregnant woman as defined in Section 82-820.24.

(q) Reserved

(r) (1) "Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Welfare-to-Work Participant" means a refugee applicant or recipient who meets the requirements of MPP Section 69-206.12 and who is participating in the Welfare-to-Work Program as directed by the county plan.

(s) (1) "Self-employment" means employment by means of earning a living by working as a sole proprietor or other business entity and not as an employee of another. Self-employment must include compensation as defined under "employment" in Section 42-701.2(e)(2).

(2) "Subsidized Employment" means employment in which the welfare-to-work participant's employer is partially or wholly reimbursed for wages and/or training costs.

(3) "Supplemental Refugee Services (SRS) Welfare-to-Work Component" means a supplemental services component, within the CalWORKs Welfare-to-Work Program, for CalWORKs refugees who would otherwise be temporarily excepted from the full range of WelfaretoWork services due to WelfaretoWork funding limitations.

(4) "Supported Work or Transitional Employment" means a welfare-to-work activity that is a form of grant-based OJT in which the participant's cash grant, or a portion thereof, or the aid grant savings from employment, is diverted to an intermediary service provider to partially or wholly offset the payment of wages to the participant.

(t) (1) "Two-parent Assistance Unit", for the purposes of Welfare-to-Work Program participation requirements, means an assistance unit with two aided natural or adoptive adult parents.

(u) (1) "Universal Engagement" means non-exempt individuals are required to participate in welfare-to-work activities by signing a welfare-to-work plan within the time frames specified in Section 42-711.62.

(2) "Unsubsidized Employment" means employment in the public or private sector for which the welfare-to-work participant’s employer is not reimbursed for wages and/or training costs by the CWD or via any other entity.

NONLINKING FACTORS OF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY

(v) (1) "Vocational Education and Training" or "Vocational Educational Training" means organized educational programs that are directly related to the preparation of individuals for employment in current or emerging occupations, and includes, but is not limited to, college and community college education, adult education, regional occupational centers, and other occupational programs.

(2) "Volunteer" means a CalWORKs applicant or recipient who, though not required to participate in the Welfare-to-Work Program, chooses to participate.

(w) (1) “WtW Grant program” means the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) Grant program as described in 42 U.S.C. 603(a)(5), authorizing the U.S. Department of Labor to provide WtW grants to states and local communities.

(2) "Welfare-to-Work Plan" means a plan developed by the CWD and the participant that specifies the program activities in which a participant shall engage and the services that will be provided to the participant.

(3) "Welfare-to-Work 24-Month Time Clock" is defined in Section 42-708.11.

(4) "Work Experience" means a welfare-to-work training activity in the public or private sector under the close supervision of the activity provider, that helps provide basic job skills, enhance existing job skills in a position related to the participant's experience, or provide a needed community service that shall lead to unsubsidized employment.

(5) "Work Study" means a type of subsidized employment as described in 42701.2(s)(2) in which the subsidized employment placements are made through a college where a welfare-to-work participant is enrolled and making satisfactory progress.

(x) Reserved

(y) Reserved

(z) Reserved

NOTE: Authority cited: Sections 10531, 10553, and 10554, Welfare and Institutions Code. Reference: Sections 10063, 10800, 11320, 11320.3(a)(1) and (b)(3)(A), 11322.6, 11322.8, 11322.85, 11322.9, 11324.6, 11324.8, 11325.21, 11325.23(a)(3)(C), 11325.25, 11331.5, 11495, 11495.1, 11495.12, and 13280, Welfare and Institutions Code; and 42 U.S.C. 603(A)(5).

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