The San Bernardino County Transitional Assistance Department (TAD) continues to violate civil rights of its workers. iePolitics has been told that TAD managers are telling new hires who are receiving welfare that if they do not report their new jobs to their workers within ten days it is welfare fraud and they will be terminated.
First, this is labeling employees who are receiving welfare benefits as an inferior class. Second, it is holding them to a different set of standards than other employees. Third, it is labeling welfare recipients who go to work for the county as an inferior class. Fourth, it is holding them to a different set of standards than other welfare recipients.
The county does not have welfare fraud. Just ask Virginia Lugo. That’s why she got rid of most of the fraud investigators.
The county, as an employer, does not have the right to know if an employee is receiving public assistance or not. They are violating employees’ rights by forcing employees to reveal that information.
An employee has not committed a crime until he or she actually collects benefits they are not entitled to or lies about it under penalty of perjury on an official form. Employees are accused of crimes all of the time like drunk driving, conspiracy, bribery, extortion, etc. If the accusation is grounds for dismissal, then most of the Fifth Floor needs to be terminated.
Generally, it takes a conviction, and even then usually a felony conviction, to be terminated. I personally know of felons working for the county.
So, all and all, TAD employees who are on Welfare are being treated like a different class of citizen. And that is illegal.
It’s usually those with a criminal past who get promoted. No kidding; go figure!
No, you are wrong on this one. Thes are conditional statements. An employer is in a superior position and often has a duty to tell an employee what the law is and the negative ramifications of not obeying the law.
SB: Ooooh, that’s right; ooops, my bad!
Steve,
Laws regarding welfare benefits are similar to HIPAA regulations. An employer has no right whatsoever to know if an employee is receiving welfare. It can become a criminal matter.
The reason the county is doing this is because their welfare-to-work stats are so dismal that if they hire clients and then force them to report it will improve how the county is doing not as an employer but as a welfare agency.
No one can even receive welfare benefits unless they sign a rights and responsibilities form which we had to read to them before they signed it. So this threat is nothing more than just that.
And, many county employees live in Riverside and Los Angeles Counties where the county does not have access to their benefit records so again you have employees being treated differently.
Every new hire has to sign a code of ethics that includes a termination clause for a conviction. These employees are being singled out for economic status and source of income which is a violation of both federal and state law.
Let me expand. A court decision is not the first line of defense in law. It is the last. The first order of business is the administrative decission.
In 31 years of business, I have never been to court on my own behalf. Yet administrative agencies tell me what to do on a daily basis. At times, I argue with these administrators, and sometimes my arguement is “what would a judge say on this?”
If the judge would say that a person hired off of welfare by TAD would have to report their hire to welfare within 10 days, and TAD informs the employee of the requirement, and backs it with the threat of firing, then all is well with the world.
There is no discrimination.
Sharon, sometimes a keen knowledge of the letter of the law can obfuscate the sense of the law. I just see that in this case.
And in that vein, a judge would rule in favor of the client every time–I have been to lots of Fair Hearings. No crime is committed until the client actually receives a paycheck and a welfare check That cannot happen for at least 25 days into ones employment and if it is a mid-quarter change it still don’t count.
You gotta understand that a lot of the rules SB Co tries to enforce on their clients have no legal basis whatsoever. You may have noticed I write about what a crook Lida Hagen is. She is the AAO for Human Services and the creator of this mess.
This county gives welfare rights organizations the biggest headache of any in the state because they so blatantly violate the law.
Most requests for Fair Hearings are overturned at the appeals specialist’s level and never see inside a hearing room. That is because the Welfare and Institutions Code says one thing and this county out of the 58 counties usually chooses to do the opposite. You’ve been reading this blog long enough. Does it really surprise you that SBCo officials break the law and get overturned by the state at least once a day?
That has been my argument against Linda for the longest time. She willfully directs county staff to break the law subjecting taxpayers to tens of millions in extra expenses each year and opening them up to millions in lawsuits. this paragraph explains exactly how and why the blog got started.
Linda had a special relationship with Mark Uffer which is how she kept her job. We keep wishing Devereaux will do something about it but are doubtful. It will take a lawsuit by clients to gt the needed changes in this area. And that is how you end up with $102 million settlements.
If the customer show up for the state hearing, they will win 9 out of 10 times.
I have never heard so much whining! Most of us consider TAD as money coming our of our pocket to pay people to sit home watching Dr. Phil. Can someone dispel the myth that this is just unemployed welfare workers getting money from employed welfare workers? Can someone please tell me why I should care when most of my dealings with this socio-economic strata leads me to believe that there is an entirely new section of the Constitution defining the right to cell phones, 20′s on my car, cable TV, and money to feed my fatherless kids?
And again you may be entirely right.
But this issue flipped a switch in my mind. I stopped caring about the abuse the county employees are going through. I’m just glad that I get to walk outdoors, deal with my neighbors, put people to work and grow things.
I am so glad that I dropped out of political journalism. I am so glad that I don’t have to worry about policy books, hearings, or the whole cumbersome beaucracy in general.
The county spends thousands on training new case workers (CW’s), and they need CW’s badly. From what I remember even a welfare recipient doesn’t have to report new employment or income until the next quarterly report unless they earn more than a certain threshold amount called the IRT. It would seem smarter for TAD administration to consider discipline (say a couple of weeks off without pay) if a CW fails to follow a rule unless it is flat out fraudulent behavior. Ms. Lugo, the director of the fraud unit, is running every new employee looking for the ones that are on aid or have been on aid just to see if she can catch someone looking into the cookie jar. (their own case). I don’t believe she should be allowed to just run everyone without reason. When she does find someone she goes for the throat, TERMINATION, nothing else, even if the CW just looked into the jar. It’s like someone (Haugan) gave Lugo this big gun and badge and said do whatever you like whenever you like in this town Sheriff Lugo, you own the town and I will protect you. I would not doubt Lugo runs audits on the new employees at the start of their new assignments out of training class and a couple of times before they pass probation, just so she can fire them before their probation is up. She likes firing employees, or chasing off employees, as she has with several PID employees. Mr. “D”, if you read these comments please do something here. I believe the county stands to lose possibly millions of dollars with Lugo running the PID unit. She has had several problems and allegations against her just from her own PID employees and now she is possibly violating the civil right of TAD employees. Someone need to investigate Ms. Lugos actions. Not her protector Linda Haugan, or Swanson, or Gomez. Actually maybe it would be best to just let Lugo run wild and let the Grand Jury look into this mess.
Not sure, but TAD could be violating their own policies. Would be interesting to see what the policy is. Anyone have acess to the TAD O & R?