CalWORKs payment reduced due to old child support cooperation penalty - check your amounts!

This is happening to so many people right now! The CalSAWS conversion is pulling up ancient history for a lot of recipients. I work as a benefits advocate, and we've seen dozens of cases where old penalties are suddenly being applied without proper notice. For anyone experiencing this: 1. Call immediately and document everything 2. Request an "immediate need" payment for the difference if you can't pay essential bills 3. Ask specifically if it's a child support cooperation penalty or a different penalty 4. If it's child support related, remind them that Good Cause exemptions MUST be honored 5. Request a written explanation of the penalty and when it was originally established You may need to request a fair hearing if they won't fix it quickly. The deadline to request a hearing is 90 days from when you discover the issue.

OMG SAME THING HERE!!! My january payment was right but feb was cut by $340!! When i called they said i had an "underpayment recoupment" from 2018 when i supposedly didnt report income but i DID report it on my SAR7!! the worker i talked to was rude af and kept saying the computer doesnt lie. im a single mom with 3 kids and now i cant pay my full electric bill. this new system is TRASH

Luckily I haven't had this issue yet, but I'm going to check my account right now. Does anyone know if there's a way to see a breakdown of how your CalWORKs amount is calculated? I want to make sure I'm getting the right amount in the first place.

After seeing this post I checked my account and I'm having the EXACT same issue! My payment is $267 less than it should be. Been trying to call all day but keep getting disconnected after being on hold forever. How did you manage to get through to an actual person?

I think theres some confusion here about what migration hapend. The counties didn't all switch to CalSAWS at the same time, its been rolling out county by county for the last 2 years. What county are you in? That might help others know if there gonna have this problem too.

This happened to me last year when my county converted to CalSAWS. I had a WTW (Welfare to Work) non-compliance penalty from 2016 suddenly reappear. I had to gather old documents proving I had been in compliance to get it fixed. If you need your issue resolved quickly, ask specifically for an "underpayment claim" to be processed right away. By law, they must correct underpayments promptly when they're discovered. Also, for the child support cooperation penalty specifically - ask them to verify the status of your Good Cause claim in the CSSD (Child Support Services Department) system, not just CalWORKs. Sometimes the two systems don't communicate properly.

To the person who asked about timeframes for underpayment claims - it took about 10 business days for mine to be processed and the additional funds to be loaded onto my EBT card. However, I had to be extremely persistent and call every other day to check on the status. If you're facing an emergency situation like potential eviction or utility shutoff, be sure to mention that specifically when you talk to your worker. They can sometimes expedite payments in genuine emergency situations.

Update: I finally got this resolved today! After three more calls and asking to speak with a supervisor, they found the original Good Cause paperwork in my case file. The supervisor admitted they're having major issues with the child support cooperation flags in the new system. They're issuing me an emergency supplemental payment for the missing $523 that should be on my EBT card within 3 business days. If anyone else is dealing with this, definitely ask for a supervisor review and use the specific phrase "immediate need payment due to agency error" - that seemed to get things moving faster. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions!

This is so frustrating but unfortunately not surprising. I went through something similar when my county switched systems last year - had an old overpayment from 2015 suddenly start getting deducted from my monthly grant without any warning. For anyone dealing with this, here's what I learned: Document EVERYTHING. Write down the date and time of every call, the name of whoever you speak with, and exactly what they tell you. Take screenshots of your benefit amounts and any online account information. Also, if you're having trouble getting through by phone, try going to your local office in person early in the morning. Sometimes face-to-face contact gets better results, especially for urgent payment issues. Bring all your paperwork with you. The system conversion has been a nightmare for so many families. It's really unfair that we have to deal with these agency errors affecting our ability to pay rent and buy groceries. Stay strong everyone and keep advocating for yourselves!