Reimbursements
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This section includes information about income received as a reimbursement.
Policy
CA Jobs participant training related expense (TRE) reimbursements are considered earned income and are not countable.
All other reimbursements are considered unearned income. Reimbursements paid by an employer for job related expenses are not countable unless the reimbursement exceeds the actual incurred expense. The amount exceeding the actual incurred expense is considered countable as unearned income.
Countable income is used to determine an income budget. (See Income Budgeting to see how FAA determines the income budget.) FAA needs to know about income that is both countable and not countable to determine whether a budgetary unit’s expenses are exceeding their income. (See Income Eligibility for more information about how FAA uses countable and not countable income.)
Reimbursements include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Adoption subsidy reimbursements
●Dependent care payments made by the Child Care Administration (CCA) to the provider. This includes any of the following:
At-Risk Child Care (Public Law 101-508)
Child Care
Child Day Care Subsidy
Development Block Grant Payment (Public Law 102-586)
Jobs Basic
TPEP
Transitional Child Care (TCC)
Tribal NEW Child Care
●CA Jobs participant TRE incentives, allowances, or reimbursements including the Tribal Work Experience Program (TWEP) and Jobs. These include, and are not limited to, any of the following issued to CA Jobs participants:
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) supplements
Unpaid Work Experience (UWE) supplements
●SNAP CAN reimbursements.
●Out of pocket expenses of volunteers incurred in the course of their volunteer activities.
●Medical expenses paid by an insurance company or government program.
●Payment for job or training related travel expenses.
●Payment for meals away from home.
●Payment for uniforms and equipment required for work and their maintenance cost.
●Title XX of the Social Security Act – payment received by the budgetary unit to pay for services provided.
●Trade Adjustment Assistance payments made by the Unemployment Division for traveling away from home to attend training and accept or seek employment.
●Payment for deductions used to keep track of job expense.
NOTE A job expense reimbursement may be identified when a paystub includes a pay amount and a deduction for the same amount.
●Stipends received from the Foster Grandparent Program for past and future expenses related to Foster Grandparent Program activities. (See Kinship Foster Caregiver Stipend for additional information.)
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
For NA, all of the following income is required to be verified before eligibility is determined:
●Reported on a new application, during the interview of a new application, or changes reported before the eligibility determination of a new application.
●Changes after an eligibility determination of a new application (e.g., a renewal application, mid approval contact, etc.) and any of the following apply:
The source of the income has changed.
The income is questionable(g) or unclear(g).
The reported income amount has changed by $51 or more.
The previous verification in the case file is more than 59 calendar days old.
For CA, all income is required to be verified before determining eligibility.
Unless the participant’s statement is questionable(g), participant statement verification can be used as the primary source of verification for the amount that the reimbursement exceeds the actual incurred expense when no other verification is available at the time of the interview or change.
Examples of verification that can be used for reimbursements include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●System interface(g) when the participant agrees that the information is accurate.
●A copy of a paycheck stub.
●Copy of checks when the reimbursements are listed.
●A printout from a third-party payroll verification source provided by the participant.
●Third-party payroll verification sources when the employer uses the verification source as its legal agent to provide payroll services or respond to inquiries about employee records. (See Third-Party Payroll Verification Sources(g) for FAA approved sources, additional information, and instructions for requesting additional sources.)
●A New Employment Verification (C005) notice that is completed, dated, and signed by the employer or their payroll authority. To be considered complete, the statement has to include all of the following:
Name, address, and telephone number of the employer
Gross pay for the periods needed
Frequency of pay (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.)
Day of the week or day of the month pay is received (e.g., Fridays, 5th and 20th of the month, first of the month, etc.)
Any expected change in pay
●For new or current employment verification, a completed Verification of New/Current Employment (FAA‑0053A) form that includes a date and the signature of the employer or their payroll authority.
●For terminated employment verification, any of the following completed items that include a date and the signature of the employer or their payroll authority:
Verification of Terminated Employment (FAA-1701A) form
Verification of Terminated Employment (C019) notice
●Letter from the agency providing government-sponsored training.
●EBT Transaction History for Jobs participant training related expenses.
●Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) from the military.
●A collateral contact with the employer or their payroll authority.
NOTE Collateral contact is not used when contacting the employer would jeopardize the participant's employment or when the employer does not accept telephone verification.
●Participant statement verification when one of the following occur:
Obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant.
When all of the following occur:
●Other attempts to obtain the verification have failed. This includes documented and collateral contact verification.
●The participant has requested assistance from FAA.
●The worker has evaluated the request for assistance and cannot obtain the verification from another acceptable source.
●The participant statement is not questionable(g).
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.9
last revised 10/02/2023