108.91 Office of State Inspector General (OSIG) Referrals

Referral for Field Investigations

Since OSIG investigations may pose a risk to domestic violence victims/ survivors , in December 2017, the OSIG revised the policies concerning investigations of cases involving domestic violence. See OSIG policy document titled Domestic Violence Observations or Disclosures During Investigations .

Whenever the CAO is aware of past, present, or risk of further domestic violence, it must indicate domestic violence on the Field Investigation Referral (OSIG 12; Box 6) or Program Integrity Unit Referral (OSIG 12-R; Box 9) that the individual is claiming domestic violence.

NOTE:

The OSIG 12 form Box 6 and OSIG 12-R form Box 9 must be completed .

If Box 6 or Box 9 is answered Yes for domestic violence, BOP must review the case for approval or denial before the CAO completes a referral in OARS.

If BOP approves the referral, the CAO will enter the BOP reviewer’s name.

The CAO enters the BOP comments in the comments section.

When completed, the CAO submits the form to OSIG in OARS.

Investigation referrals to OSIG that involve domestic violence with an open TANF budget will be sent to BOP through the resource account at RA-PWDFADVREVIEWS@pa.gov

If BOP approves the investigation referral, the referral is completed through the Office of Inspector General Avoidance and Recovery System (OARS). See OSIG Field Investigation and Referral Process .

The question in OARS regarding domestic violence and receiving BOP approval for TANF cases will be checked as “Yes”.

If BOP denies the investigation referral, the referral will not be sent to OSIG, and the action will be narrated in the case record comments and the document scanned into the case record.

All non-TANF related referrals that involve domestic violence will be submitted directly through OARS, and the question in OARS regarding domestic violence will be checked as “Yes”. The CAO then submits the referral to the OSIG in OARS.

When a case is referred to the OSIG and domestic violence is unknown to the CAO, and the individual subsequently discloses during the course of the OSIG interview, the interview will immediately cease.

The investigator will indicate that OSIG terminated the investigation because of observed or disclosed circumstances in Section IV of the OSIG 12 and return the form to the CAO.

For client safety, the notation “Investigation terminated because of circumstances” will be used on the OSIG 12 to document the indication of domestic violence.

Overpayment Referrals

There may be cases in which an overpayment occurs in a case with known domestic violence, or the CAO learns that domestic violence is an issue after an overpayment is referred to the OSIG. Overpayment referrals that involve domestic violence with an open TANF budget will be sent to BOP through the resource account at RA-PWDFADVREVIEWS@pa.gov