California Department of Social Services - State Hearings Division
Notes from the Training Bureau - May 13, 2008

The county may not recoup a CalWORKs overpayment from a caretaker relative who was not in the AU. That means the county may not demand repayment from the caretaker relative who was not a member of the assistance unit at the time of the overpayment. If the non-aided caretaker relative is presently receiving CalWORKs on behalf of aided children who were in the overpaid assistance unit, then the county may recoup the overpayment by grant adjustment.

MPP Section 44-352.3 states:

Overpayments shall be recouped in the following priority order unless specifically exempted under Section 44-352.2.

.31 When the caretaker relative recipient was a member of the AU at the time of the overpayment, the county shall seek recoupment from the caretaker relative recipient.

.32 When the caretaker relative was not a member of the AU at the time of the overpayment, the county shall seek recovery from the members of the overpaid AU…

The following caretaker relatives are not members of the AU (unless erroneously aided):

• Undocumented immigrant (§82-832.1(b))
• Father of unborn when he is not parent/caretaker relative of aided child (§82-832.1(c))
• SSI/SSP or KinGAP recipient (§ 82-832.1(d))
• Fleeing felon/probation or parole violator/convicted drug felon (§§82-832.1(h) through (j))
• Person sanctioned for refusal to assign support rights (§82-832.21)
• Welfare to Work sanctioned person (§82-832.23)
• Timed out adult (§82-833)

The county may recoup an overpayment if the caretaker relative was penalized rather than sanctioned. This is so because even though the effect on the grant is the same, when a person is penalized he/she remains in the AU. When a person is sanctioned he/she is not in the AU.

Examples of penalties are:

• Intentional Program Violation (§40-105.17)
• Failure to meet immunization requirements (§40-105.4)
• Failure to meet school attendance requirements (§40-105.5)

If the county demands repayment from a caretaker relative who was not a member of the assistance unit at the time of the CalWORKs overpayment, an Administrative Law Judge should grant the claim and order the county to rescind its action demanding the repayment against the caretaker relative. It would not be appropriate for a judge to order the county to cancel the overpayment unless the judge has established that no overpayment exists.

In food stamps, the county may recoup from excluded household members because excluded household members are included in the household for the purpose of defining a household (§63-402.22) . Thus the county may recoup from the people listed above who were not members of the AU. The county may even recoup a food stamp overissuance from an SSI/SSP recipient, but not from the SSI/SSP grant.