Policy                                                                       Issuance Number: TEA 98-5

Transitional Employment Assistance Manual      Issuance Date: June 10, 1998

From: Ruth Whitney, Director                                       Expiration Date: Until Superseded

Subj: Revised Policy

Pages to be Deleted          Date                                                   Pages to be Added                        Date  

TEA 3400-3420          7/1/97                                               TEA 3400-3420                    6/1/98         

 (2 pages- # 117 & 118)                                          (4 pages-#117-118,                                                                                                                                    118(a) –118 (b)]        

None                                                                                       TEA 5130-5140                    6/1/98

                        {3 pages-#170 (a)-170 (c)}

     Summary of Changes

TEA 3410 has been revised to incorporate the $200 transportation monthly maximum which may be authorized without supervisory approval and the increased mileage reimbursement rate. This policy now supersedes the memorandum dated April 1, 1998 which authorized counties to implement these increased amounts.

Several other changes have been made in TEA 3410 to allow counties more flexibility in helping clients meet their transportation expenses. Therefore, this section and the new TEA 3410.1, which gives examples of situations in which the maximum or other transportation limits might be exceeded, should be reviewed carefully.

TEA 5130 and 5140 are new sections describing the policy and procedures for the new Extended Support Services-Employment Bonus and Transportation Assistance. These are Extended Support Services in the form of cash payments for families whose cash assistance case closes due to employment. The Employment Bonus will be made in the month following the closure month and may be provided one-time in a twelve month period. The ESS-Transportation assistance will be provided in each of the two months following closure. These payments will be made automatically by the system based on the close code. Therefore, these sections and the implementation procedures which follow should be reviewed carefully by all staff to ensure that cash assistance cases which are closed due to employment are coded correctly.

Implementation Procedures for ESS-Employment Bonus and Transportation

July 1, 1998 and Later Closures- In order to identify cases that should receive the Extended Supportive Services-Employment Bonus (ESSEB) and Transportation payments, two additional action reasons have been added. These are:

       500-TEA Case Closed due to Earnings, Provide Additional Payments; and

       501-TEA Case Closed at Client’s Request due to Earnings, Provide Additional Payments.

These codes are valid only for Category 20 cases with a TEA unit Size greater than 0. They should be used beginning July 1, 1998 to authorize additional payments. Client Notice text will be added to inform the client that these payments are going to be made. The notice will be sent at the time of closure but the payment will not be made until the first of the next month.

Cases which are closed using one of these reasons will be written to a holding file until the last workday of the month. That night, the system will read the database and if the case has not be reopened as a TEA grant case, an ESSEB payment and a Transportation payment will be made. If the case has not re-opened by the last workday of the next month, the system will issue the second Transportation payment. (Note: The system will edit for an ESSEB already made in the prior twelve months. If one was made, it will not issue the ESSEB payment even if one of the 500 codes is used. It will, though, issue the Transportation payments.)

These payments will be added to the client’s EBT account. In addition, the payment history file (WADC) will be updated with an entry for each payment. The ESSEB payment will show type X and the Transportation payment will show type T.

A new screen, TEAX, ESS Employment and Transportation Payment is being added. This screen will display the cases that have been closed using one of the new codes. County Office staff can access the screen for inquiry and can delete record prior to the payments being made. Complete details for this screen will be issued to the DCO User’s Manual.

If the need arises to correct a case and add it to this extra payment process but the case is already closed, the ACES Unit should be contacted for instructions.

June 1998 Closures-Cases closed during the month of June for earnings related reasons will be identified by Central Office and issued these payments on or about July 3. A letter notifying them of these payments will be mailed from Central Office.

Inquires to: Linda Greer, TEA Unit, 682-8257          Lanny Nordin, ACES Unit, 682-8183                    

                    Lorie Williams, TEA Unit, 682-8256        Gwen White, ACES Unit, 682-1518

                   Ron Johnson, TEA Unit, 682-8182

                   Renee Green, TEA Unit, 682-8266