California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - April 16, 2003

Facts

The county issued the claimant a notice of action in English on February 21, 2001 denying the claimant application to add her newborn child to the CalWORKs assistance unit. The claimant did not request a hearing until July 24, 2001. The county requested a dismissal of the claimant's hearing request because it was filed untimely.

The notice of action was adequate and the claimant acknowledged that she received the notice. She contended that she speaks Vietnamese and did not understand the notice.

The claimant had a friend complete a language preference form and the claimant signed the form. The language preference form indicated that the claimant wanted to receive forms in English.

Law

A request for state hearing must be filed within 90 days of the action or inaction with which the claimant is dissatisfied. In the Food Stamp Program, the appropriate time limits are set forth in §§63-802.4 and 63-804.5. If the claimant received adequate notice of the action, the date of the action is the date the notice was mailed to the claimant. (§22-009.1)

A request for hearing shall be dismissed if the request for hearing is filed beyond the time limit set forth in §22-009. (§22-054.32)

Forms or other written material required for the provision of aid or services shall be available and offered to the applicant/recipient in the individual's primary language when such forms and other written material are provided by the CDSS. When such forms and other written material contain spaces in which the agency is to insert information, this inserted information shall be in the individual's primary language. (§21-115.2)

In order to ensure that every non-English/limited English speaking client receives equal access to all programs and services, county welfare departments are reminded that they must comply with §21-115.2 (All-County Letter (ACL) No. 00-03, January 5, 2000)

A list of forms which have been translated into languages other than English is sent to counties by CDSS on a regular basis. Counties are required to stock all forms that have been translated by CDSS even if there have been no requests. (ACL No. 92-90, October 15, 1992)

Analysis

Where the claimant had signed a form indicating that her language preference was English, the county properly relied on the form in issuing notices of action to the claimant in English. Therefore the claimant's hearing request was untimely and properly dismissed.