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EAP Policy Manual FFY23 Chapter 10 Incidents and Appeals Page 5 1. When contacting local authorities, you should state that there appears to be an incident of suspected fraud to obtain federal public assistance benefits. 2. Explain that due to Minnesota law, specifically the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, EAP data is classified as private data on individuals and generally cannot be released without a court order. A subpoena is not acceptable. See Minn. Stat. §§ 13.05, 13.462. 3. Explain the incident. Provide the EAP household number and the applicant(s)’ name and address. 4. Provide the local authority the completed Suspected Fraud Referral Cover Letter (Appendix 10C). This cover letter refers the matter to local law enforcement authority and expressly reminds them the included information is considered private data. The cover letter must contain no private data. 5. Ask the local authority to serve a court order to obtain additional household and application data needed to complete the report for an investigation. 6. If you or the local authority have questions about releasing EAP data or if EAP receives a court order for EAP data, contact Commerce. • Take appropriate action to safeguard public resources such as requesting repayment of EAP funds from the household. • If Commerce determines there is suspected fraud, Commerce may deny the application in eHEAT as “Denied Suspected Fraud.” This will not generate an automatic letter, so the Service Provider must use the Suspected Fraud Denial Letter Template (Appendix 10D) and customize the denial letter based on the household situation. • Track fraud cases until completion. If funds were overpaid, follow the funds recovery process. Consider a case complete when all information has been submitted to local authorities. If case updates are later received from local authorizes, notify Commerce. • Document a household’s suspected fraud in the eHEAT “Application Notes” field. • When an investigation indicates an energy vendor or contractor error or suspected fraud the Service Provider must ensure that the household has access to heat. Overpayments and Recovery of EAP Funds Overpayment recovery is required when an EAP benefit is overpaid by $10 or greater. Until an overpayment process is complete, the household is not eligible to receive Crisis benefits. Service Providers must track and maintain a single log of households with overpayments, to ensure all recovery steps are conducted and Crisis is not provided until the recovery process is complete. Follow the overpayment recovery procedures for an error, waste, abuse, or suspected fraud below: