New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 10 - HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 90 - WORK FIRST NEW JERSEY PROGRAM › Subchapter 3 - FINANCIAL ELIGIBILITY-INCOME, RESOURCES, BENEFITS › Section 10:90-3.21 - Overpayments and underpayments

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) Overpayment
				means a financial assistance payment (including emergency assistance) received
				by or for an eligible assistance unit for the payment month(s) which exceeds
				the amount for which that unit was eligible.
1. The county or municipal agency shall seek
				recovery of all overpayments (including emergency assistance) regardless of
				fault, including overpayments caused by administrative action or inaction and
				overpayments resulting from assistance paid pending hearing
				decisions.
2. Recovery may be
				accomplished by any of the following methods: securing repayment from the
				existing income and resources of the adult members of the assistance unit;
				reducing the cash benefits payable to the assistance unit; or securing
				repayment through court action, if necessary. For cases which have both an
				underpayment and overpayment, the county or municipal agency may offset one
				against the other in correcting the payment.
i. Child-only cases, as defined in
				10:90-15.1, are not subject to
				recovery of overpayments, except in situations where Kinship Subsidy payments
				have resulted in a duplication of assistance.
3. The amount of the overpayment shall be the
				amount of assistance (including emergency assistance) received during the
				period of overpayment less the amount of assistance which should have been
				received.
i. In the case of an overpayment
				caused by the client's failure without good cause to report earned income on a
				timely basis, the amount of the overpayment shall be calculated without benefit
				of the earned income disregards provided for at
				10:90-3.8.
ii. If an eligible assistance unit is
				overpaid for which the county agency receives child support collections, only
				that amount of assistance paid in excess of support payments received during
				the period of overpayment shall be considered for overpayment
				collection.
4. Liability
				for overpayment of assistance (including emergency assistance) is established
				jointly among the adult individual responsible for the overpayment, the
				overpaid adult members of the eligible assistance unit, the adult individual
				members of the eligible assistance unit and any eligible assistance unit of
				which an adult member of the overpaid eligible unit subsequently becomes a
				member.
5. Upon discovery of an
				overpayment, the county or municipal agency shall inform the client in writing
				of the incorrect payment(s), the amount of overpayment and what corrective
				actions will be taken.
6.
				Overpayment to an eligible unit which is currently receiving assistance
				(including adult recipients whose overpayment occurred during a prior period of
				eligibility) may be repaid in full by the eligible unit or in part wherein the
				assistance benefit amount may be reduced by 10 percent of the appropriate
				benefit allowance for the unit size, until recovery is completed.
i. If, on a case by case basis, it is
				determined that, in the judgment of the county or municipal agency, the 10
				percent reduction in the assistance benefit may be detrimental to the
				well-being of the assistance unit, a lesser rate of recovery shall be
				established, but not below a minimum rate of five percent.
ii. If the benefit assistance amount is
				reduced to zero because of recovery, members of the eligible unit will continue
				to be considered recipients of WFNJ. If the amount payable because of recovery
				is less than $ 10.00, the WFNJ benefit shall be issued in that lesser
				amount.
7. When a member
				of the eligible assistance unit is the individual responsible for the
				overpayment, the agency shall recover the overpayment from the adult members of
				that eligible unit.
8. If the
				individual responsible for the overpayment is no longer receiving assistance,
				the agency shall initiate court action against the responsible adult individual
				to recover the overpayment.
i. If despite
				agency action, recovery is not completed through court action, the agency shall
				recover the overpayment in accordance with (a)10 below.
9. If the individual responsible for the
				overpayment is a member of another eligible unit, the agency shall recover the
				overpayment from the adult members of that unit.
10. In all other circumstances, the priority
				of recovery of overpayments shall be: the overpaid adult members of the
				eligible unit; any eligible unit of which an adult member of the overpaid
				eligible unit subsequently becomes a member; or any adult individual members of
				the overpaid eligible unit whether or not currently recipients.
11. Overpayment to an assistance unit, all
				members of which are no longer receiving WFNJ, shall be recovered by the county
				or municipal agency through a court of appropriate jurisdiction if the adult
				members of the assistance unit do not voluntarily repay the overpayment.
i. Where the overpayment amount owed by an
				assistance unit no longer receiving WFNJ is less than $ 100.00, or it is
				determined that, after reasonable effort to recover the overpayment, it is no
				longer cost effective to continue recovery efforts, the county or municipal
				agency may waive recovery of the overpayment. All circumstances concerning a
				waiver of recovery must be fully documented in the case record.
ii. Recovery of overpayments due to fraud or
				Intentional Program Violation (IPV) (see N.J.A.C. 10:90-11 ) shall not be
				waived regardless of the amount of overpayment.
12. The county or municipal agency must take
				one of the following three actions by the end of the quarter following the
				quarter in which the overpayment is first identified:
i. Recover the overpayment(s);
ii. Initiate action to locate and/or recover
				the overpayment(s) from a former adult recipient; or
iii. Execute a recovery agreement from a
				current adult recipient's grant or income/resources.
13. In all situations of overpayments, the
				facts and circumstances in each case shall be evaluated and, where indicated,
				action taken as appropriate in accordance with regulations pertaining to
				fraudulent receipt of assistance (see N.J.A.C. 10:90-11 ).