15.4.1 Requirements When the CSA Determines Noncooperation

When a parent is not cooperating with the CSA, the FEP receives an alert indicating the CSA’s determination of noncooperation.

The FEP has up to seven calendar days from the alert to act on the alert by pending W-2 and generating the Notice of Action Needed. The FEP must generate the Notice of Action Needed by the seventh calendar day. If the seventh calendar day is on a weekend or holiday, the FEP has until the next working day to act on the alert. (See 4.1.3) The FEP must not pend W-2 or generate the Notice of Action Needed if a good cause claim exists and has not been denied.

When the FEP pends the W-2 case and generates the notice, the parent has seven working days from the mailing date of the Notice to cooperate with CS or file a good cause claim. (See 15.6.3) On (and not earlier than) the day after the seventh working day after the mailing date of the notice, if the parent does not begin cooperating or file a good cause claim, the FEP must end the W-2 placement in CWW, backdate the end date to the seventh working day, and run eligibility to close W-2.

The FEP must do this to prevent any overpayments that would occur beginning on the day after the seventh working day.

EXAMPLE 1: The FEP receives a noncooperation alert on Wednesday, May 15. By Tuesday, May 22, the FEP runs eligibility to pend W-2 and generate the Notice of Action Needed. The mailing date on the notice is May 23. The participant then has seven working days from the mailing date of the notice (until Monday, June 3) to start cooperating with child support or submit a good cause claim. The participant does not claim good cause or cooperate with child support, so on the day after the seventh working day (Tuesday, June 4), the FEP ends the placement, backdates the end date to the seventh working day (Monday, June 3), and runs eligibility to close W-2.

W-2 cases that have not claimed good cause or begun cooperating with child support that are not closed on the day after the seventh working day after the mailing date of the Notice of Action Needed may incur overpayments. (See 10.3) Because W-2 agencies are required to send a notice when a participant is not cooperating with CS, the overpayment period is determined to begin on the day after the seventh working day after the mailing date of the notice.

When W-2 remains open beyond the seventh working day after the mailing date of the Notice of Action Needed (over payment begin date), and the participant has not begun to cooperate with CS or claim good cause, the overpayment period will continue until:

EXAMPLE 2: Eve is not cooperating with Child Support. Her FEP receives the CS noncooperation alert on Monday, March 7. The FEP acts timely by Monday, March 14, to generate the Notice of Action Needed. The mailing date on the notice is March 15. By the seventh working day of Thursday, March 24, Eve does not respond. On Friday, March 25, the FEP acts timely to close Eve’s placement, backdates the placement end date to Thursday, March 24, and runs eligibility to close W-2. The FEP acted timely to generate the notice and acted timely to close the placement for CS noncooperation. Eve did not receive any overpayments.

EXAMPLE 3: Alice’s FEP received the noncooperation alert on Tuesday, April 5, and acted timely to generate the Notice of Action Needed. The mailing date on the notice is April 12, and the due date is Thursday, April 21, the seventh working day after the mailing date on the notice. Alice does not respond by the due date. On Friday, May 6, her FEP acted on the overdue verification item, verifying no change to Alice’s cooperation status and no good cause claim. The FEP ends Alice’s placement on May 6. The FEP acted timely to generate the notice but did not act timely to end the placement.

Because the FEP should have ended the placement on Friday, April 22, and backdated the placement end date to April 21, an overpayment occurred. The overpayment period start date is April 22 the day after the placement should have ended. The overpayment period end date is May 6, the day the FEP closed the placement. Alice received fifteen days of overpayments.

EXAMPLE 4: Patty’s FEP received an alert indicating Patty’s CS noncooperation status on Friday, April 1, but did not act timely to generate the Notice of Action Needed. The FEP did not run eligibility until Monday, April 11. The mailing date on the notice is Tuesday, April 12. The due date to either cooperate or claim good cause is Thursday, April 21. On Friday, April 22, the FEP acted timely on the verification item, verifying no change to Patty’s cooperation status and no good cause claim. The FEP closes Patty’s placement on April 22, and backdates the end date to the seventh working day, April 21. The FEP did not act timely on the CS noncooperation alert but acted timely to close the placement by the eighth working day.

Despite the FEP not acting timely on the noncooperation alert, there was no overpayment in this scenario because: 1) overpayments for CS noncooperation cannot occur until after the Notice of Action Needed is mailed and the due date has passed without cooperation or a good cause claim filed; and 2) once the due date passed, the FEP acted timely to close the placement by the eighth working day.

EXAMPLE 5: Mira’s FEP received the noncooperation alert on Monday, April 11, but did not act timely to generate the Notice of Action Needed. The FEP should have run eligibility to generate the Notice of Action Needed on or before Monday, April 18. However, the FEP did not generate the Notice of Action Needed until Thursday, April 21. The mailing date on the notice is Friday, April 22, and the due date, the seventh working day, is Tuesday, May 3.

Mira did not cooperate nor claim good cause by the due date. The FEP did not act timely to end Mira’s W-2 eligibility on May 4, the day after the seventh working day after the mailing date of the notice. The placement and eligibility remained open. On Monday, May 16, the FEP received the alert indicating the CS noncooperation has ended and the cooperation status on the CWW Absent Parent page updates from No to Yes.

Because the placement should have closed on May 3, the due date on the Notice of Action Needed, an overpayment occurred. The overpayment start date is May 4,the day after the placement should have ended and the overpayment end date is May 15, the day before the display date on the alert indicating CS noncooperation ended. Mira received 12 days of overpayments.

If a parent from the W-2 Group reapplies while another parent in the W-2 Group still is not cooperating with child support, the entire W-2 Group remains ineligible for W-2 services or a JAL until the uncooperative parent cooperates or establishes good cause for noncooperation. During the intake appointment, the FEP must generate the Notice of Action Needed to allow the applicant seven working days to cooperate with child support or claim good cause.

Note: Some individuals are exempt from cooperating with child support. Typically, the CSA does not report noncooperation for exempt individuals. Regardless, if an individual is exempt, the W-2 agency cannot impose any penalty for the individual’s noncooperation, and he or she does not have to provide good cause for noncooperation. (See 15.5.1)