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Issue Alert - 02-08-01

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Date:

08/01/2002

Issue Summary:

CDC will be authorized for part-time, full-time and over-time

Persons Affected:

WorkFirst Participants

For More Information:

Center for Civil Justice320 S. Washington, 2nd Floor Saginaw, MI 48607 (989) 755-3120, (800)724-7441 Fax: (989) 755-3558E-mail: info@ccj-mi.org
Background

Child Development and Care (CDC)
What's Happening?
CDC will now be authorized in one of three categories: part-time (70 hours or less), full-time (71-100 hours) or over-time (101-140 hours). Authorizations are based on the number of hours needed by the parent/substitute parent with the least number of hours, plus travel time. FIA policy anticipates that there will be very few situations where over-time care of 140 hours is authorized. The examples given for authorization at this level are:
  • Consistently working overtime hours;
  • Working two or more jobs totaling more than 100 hours;
  • Working nights and must sleep when the child is awake; or
  • Working as a migrant long hours per day, totaling more than 100 hours.
The regulation implies that this is an exclusive list of reasons for approving over-time child care payments. However, there will certainly be instances where over-time is required but the situation does not fall into one of these categories. For instance, it does not appear to take into consideration the situation where a parent is working more than one job and must travel both between those jobs and back and forth from the child care provider. This will take additional time, as multiple jobs will not always be back-to-back. The worker will have to pick up their children between jobs and then take them back to the childcare provider. The new regulations make the assumption that most authorizations will be for 100 hours or less, ie – full-time employment. However, with work requirements at 40 hours per week, it is likely that there will be many instances where individuals will need to be authorized at the over-time level of over 100 hours. If an individual were working 40 hours per week, plus an hour for lunch each day, plus the allowable two hours of travel time per day, the total would be 110 hours for a two-week period. This should be authorized at the over-time level.
What Should Advocates Do?

With work requirements now at 40 hours per week, it is anticipated that many recipients will be working at two or more jobs.
Finding Help

Most legal aid and legal services office handle these type of cases, and they do not charge a fee. You can locate the "free" legal services or legal aid office that serves your county on the Michigan Legal Assistance Network website (http://www.mlan.net/locate.html) or look in the yellow pages under "attorneys" or call the toll-free lawyer referral number, (800) 968-0738
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State Bar of Michigan Michigan State Bar Foundation