The project centrally refers an overpayment to BOC for cases that received SNAP benefits for at least one month during the Wage Mismatch quarter, and no earnings were budgeted for the reported quarter.
FCRC staff continue to be responsible for budgeting current income, adding ending employment, and canceling cases based on information provided by BOC.
SNAP Households in Mid-Point Reporting status do not need to comply with New Hire procedures.
Central Referral of Wage MisMatches to BOC
Cases receiving SNAP with Wage Mismatches following FCRCs are centrally referred to BOC if no earnings were budgeted for the earnings quarter:
- DuPage
- E. St. Louis
- East Alton
- Granite City
- Humboldt Park
- Jackson
- Kankakee
- Logan
- Macon
- Mid-Illinois
- Mid-South
- Ogden (formerly known as Western)
- Peoria
Richland- Roseland
- Sangamon
- Tazewell
- Williamson
- Winnebago, and
- South Suburban.
For each case referred to BOC, a message is printed on the Wage MisMatch Report that states, "DESOP SELECTED" for any quarter that was sent to BOC. The FCRC remains responsible for reviewing and clearing all other quarters that do not have the project message. For those cases selected for the project, the system will not create a task for that quarter.
Under IES Phase 2, FCRC will indicate in IES that employment has stopped. If it is known that a client selected on the PAL for the project has stopped working during the quarter, notify BOC of the stopped income by calling (217) 524-1339 or email the (Department of Employment Security Overpayments (DESOPS) unit at DHS.BOC.Desop@illinois.gov. The FCRC can use the same phone number to call BOC on any central overpayment related issue.
This process occurs once a quarter January, April, July, and October.
Bureau of Collections (BOC) Notifies Client of Overpayment
For each case identified, BOC sends:
- Form 2555DO, a letter that identifies all the employers the customer worked for during the quarter and asks the customer to submit proof of the earnings (copy attached) to BOC; and
- A completed Form 266 (Request for Employment Verification) for each identified employer and return envelope addressed to BOC.
The customer has 30 days to respond and provide proof of the earnings to BOC.
If the customer contacts BOC, they are told to return proof of their earnings in the envelope provided by the date on Form 2555DO.
NOTE: If the customer contacts the FCRC in response to Form 2555DO, tell them to call BOC at the number on the form, (217) 524-1339.
Customer Provides Proof of Earnings
When a customer provides proof of their earnings, BOC:
- calculates the SNAP and/or Cash overpayment based on actual income; and
- notifies the customer of the overpayment; and
- uploads a copy of the overpayment packet to the ECR/OverPay tab. If the customer's income is ongoing, the proof of earnings is sent to FCRC for budgeting.
Each Friday BOC e-mails the FCRC a list of cases that have cooperated, and follows up with am email copy of earnings verification. The Friday e-mails also include information on when employment ended so staff can enter on the Employment - Pay Details page or Self-employment - Pay Details page.
Customer Does Not Provide Proof of Earnings
If the customer does not provide proof of their earnings within 30 days, BOC:
- calculates the monthly overpayment by dividing the amount of pay shown on AWVS by 3 months. BOC uses that monthly income amount along with other income and SNAP expense information from IES to determine the monthly overpayment for each month of the PAL quarter. For example, BOC divides the 01/16 through 03/16 PAL quarter pay by 3 to determine the monthly overpayment for 01/16, 02/16, and 03/16;
- sends the customer a demand letter (Form 2555ES along with a return envelope); and
- notifies the FCRC via e-mail that the customer has not cooperated.
If the customer files an appeal on the overpayment, the FCRC:
- contacts BOC at (217) 524-1339 or email the DESOPS unit at DHS.BOC.Desop@illinois.gov, to request any needed copies of the overpayment information, and
- handles the appeal in the usual manner.
The Bureau of Collections Field Consultants that serve the project FCRCs are available to answer any questions and provide assistance when needed.
Batch Actions and Wage Mismatch in IES
Priority Action List (PAL) C codes are replaced with "Wage Mismatch tasks" and a Wage Mismatch Report in IES Phase 2. Most PAL codes are replaced by batch actions in IES. Through batch action triggers, IES automatically reruns eligibility, processes and certifies changes, or generates tasks in the Changes/Misc EDM queue. See PM 19-08-00 for information about batch actions in IES. A chart that shows how PAL codes are handled in IES Phase 2 is contained in PM 19-06-00.
