I sincerely envy those IHSS Providers who were granted the legal right to maintain their name on payroll from July until Dec as they proceeded to complete all four enrollment requiremnts. However, this option was not fully offered to me when I requested it.

I took the word of the Public Authority in my county when she said “our county” was not offering this approach. In person Orientations were Mandatory for all.

It wasn’t until Monday of this last week that I was directed to a letter from the California Department of Social Services, Dated June 15th 2010, letter number 10-33 to all County Managers that clarified the proper procedures to take and stated codes that would protect my name on payroll as a current IHSS provider if I was allowed to complete just “one” of the enrollment requirements by June 30th.

Welfare and Institutions Code section 12301.24 clearly states as a current IHSS Provider I be given the option to recieve orientation materials and it was NOT mandatory to attend and in person orientation. This was to be my choice. This was denied to me.

I begged for this option as I also work a full time job not affiliated with the IHSS program while taking care of my non ambulatory relative. Back in March I made it clear it was very difficult to take 4 hours away from my full time job so please work with me. At least give me each months mandatory meetings well in advance and let me pick which date to attend if I had to be there. Each time I was told I couldn’t do it that way. I was told there would be no additional dates at that time. Attend or I’m off payroll was a continuing song. Even the limited dates for Orientation seemed odd but I accepted this as well.

So when June arrived and I got a letter stating I had options to stay on payroll after the 30th I acted on it quickly but as stated above was told my county was not offering any other way but a mandatory in person orientation. Not only was I denied the option to do orientation through mail but I was denied the right to just do fingerprinting or signing SOC 426 and providing identification as alternative single options to start the process of enrollment before June 30th.

I was told only one thing. It was mandatory I attend the four hour in person Orientation in my county. I could not get fingerprints first until I had attended the mandatory in person orientation because I needed a slip of paper from them after the in person Orientation. I would only be allowed to sign SOC 426 after attending the mandatory in person orientation as well when in fact it’s actually SOC 846 that required completion of Orientation first not SOC 426. I was never allowed any free choice of doing just one of the four requirements to stay on payroll. I was told to do only one thing. Either attend an in person orientation or I’m off payroll July 1st.

Because I was calling in June requesting my right to do just one thing which was a request to do orientation by mail and my county didn’t offer this approach no matter what I would do at that point I’d be off payroll come July 1st. I aid minus the 4 hours Orientation in person I could sign papers, show id, run and get finger printed but was told no thats now how they were doing things.

She stated that because fingerprinting and background checks were taking so long it just wouldn’t matter. I simply trusted my Public Authorities word as gold on all of this.

Now after seeing many were allowed the free choice not to attend a mandatory in person orientation and still being allowed to do many of the other things one by one I’m stunned I was ever taken off payroll.

Had I been given all my rights I could have easily done the orientation by mail at the beginning of 2010 and proceeded to go in either before or after work and quickly signed additional papers, shown identification and get finger printed. I offered to do all the above but was flat turned down. I’m sure all bacground checks and processing would have been completed even before June.

I feel as if I was pushed off of payroll because I did not approach enrollment the way my county wanted all IHSS providers to enroll but the truth is all along I could have easily remained on payroll had all my rights been applied.

I have contacted the Policy Bearu and each time they have stated not one single county was given authority to deny any current IHSS provider their rights based on those codes. However, when I spoke with my county Public authority last week she said she had the right to go above those codes. I asked her if she would please for my peace of mind send me any legal documentation that states she had that right because it would seem odd after reading the letter dated two weeks before the 30th of June clairifying to her the proper procedures to keep me on payroll if I was allowed to do just one of the requirements which included orientation by mail. Her response was she was under a lot of pressure right now as Dec 31st was nearing but after that time she’d send it. When my relative asked for that documentation proving she had authority to overriede state codes she told my relative laws change all the time. Apparently in my case they changed in less then two weeks before the deadline of June 30th. I’m very skeptical of that.

This also struck me as odd that she would be having an issue with Dec 31st and any deadlines to complete enrollment requirements for county providers since I was told back in June they weren’t allowing the option of doing just part of the enrollment to remain on payroll until Dec 31st.

My guess is that what she is really dealing with is getting all the background checks in from the finger printing but that honestly not one IHSS provider was ever offered any free choice to do just one procedure to stay on payroll back in June and definitely not the option to do orientation by Mail. I doubt there is one single IHSS provider in my county who just submitted finger prints and nothing else but first definitely had to attend the mandatory orientation face to face before they could do finger printing.

As it stands I have lost 2600 dollars because I was yanked off payroll. 2600 I should have in my checking right now as I continue to provide excellent care for my relative. To add even more problems to the situation my relative went off the IHSS program in Nov because they have been waiting for me to do the enrollment procedures to get back on the registry. I was never sent any additional information as to dates of in person orientations after I spoke to the county public authority in my area in June. Each month I called requesting dates and was told by the receptionist I’d get a return call and yet I got nothing. When I pointed out this to my county public authority last week she said they’ve sent me multiple letters. None of which I have received. I wouldn’t even attempt to lie. Had I gotten them I would have said so. Whey a letter? Why not just call me? They have all my contact iformation.

In my situation I strongly feel a lot of fishy behavior went on in my county. Those trusted to pull the registry together proceeded to “possibly” manipulate current IHSS providers into an in person orientation that was never mandatory to get all the procedures done at once to eliminate processing orientation through mail and all they’d have to do was wait for background checks from the finger printing to come in. As long as they could keep telling the workers they’d lose their pay if they didn’t hurry up and get to the in person orientations they’d just all show up for fear of losing much needed income.

Something else odd has taken place. After bickering with one another I asked my public authority if our conversation would cost me eligibility as an IHSS provider once I did complete enrollment. She asked … Why? She never said no. She said as long as I past the background check it should be all good. I said great. So when are the next orientations? She said they are offered twice every week now. Something they didn’t offer last spring. I said great I can work with that and my current schedule. She then said something I don’t understand. I was to wait until my mother had re applied for IHSS as a client and then after she had been accepted back on the program I could start enrollment. Why would I have to wait for her to apply? My goal is to be on the registry. I haven’t heard I needed a client in waiting to apply for the job?

I feel like now there is some other odd thing happening where if I hold off enrollment much longer suddenly I will be told I will not get all that back pay for July through Oct 31st or someone is just going to drag this out where I am waiting months for a background check to come through. I don’t trust my public authority at this point. I’m puzzled why I was not allowed the right to do orientation by mail as a current IHSS Provider or to do at least three of the other things first so that I could stay on payroll after June 30th. I actually want my pay right now for July through Oct 31st if my legal right to do enrollment my way was denied. It just all feels so wrong. I should have been granted a little bit more respect.

I spoke to a very nice Union Rep but she wasn’t even aware of the codes I was speaking of. She just said I really needed to get into orientation and get fingerprinted but she’d check into it. My public authority told me the Union agreed and supported her but yet I see fellow union members who were offered alternatives I weren’t so I’m not sure if the entire Union would agree that what my public authority did was legal. She kept saying thats how our county did it. Well great thats how they all wanted to do it but does that mean I had zero rights because they decided they wanted to do it a certain way? Is there anyone who can help me clean up this mess? If so email ASAP. I’d really appreciate it.

I do apologize if my above comment is lengthy but I can’t think of any other way to condense the situation.

I do need to add that because my mother went off the IHSS program on Oct 31st while waiting for me to recieve dates to attend a mandatory orientation I should have never had to attend in the first place I have also suffered a loss of pay for the months of Nov and Dec. Had I remained on payroll like I should have currently the amount I would have made to date is actually 3,305 dollars from July through Nov. At the end of December it would have been 3,966 dollars. Pay I will never fully see once I am back on payroll. The best I will get out of it is just a little over 2,600 dollars. A loss my actions did not create but a decision by my county that cost me.

No matter what is pulled on me I will never stop providing my mother with the best care possible so that she can remain at home. I’ve done this my entire life. I started lifting my mother at the age of 4 and helping to transport her. By 6 I could give house cleaning tips to the entire neighborhood. As I grew I continued to do all I could while putting myself through college without any type of financial assitance. At times I’ve had 3 and 4 jobs to make sure there was enough to pay for every thing. I went many years without any type of pay in regard to care for my mother but after a lot of advice decided if someone else would get pay for what I am doing then fair is fair I should also take that small pay which doesn’t even begin to cover all I do.

I am completely shocked at what took place and how I should have never been taken off the IHSS payroll after June 30th of this year had I been allowed to do just one thing other than just a mandatory in person orientation which was never required of me as a current IHSS provider.

If just one person could produce a legal document/letter with the backing from the California Department of Social Services that states my county and it’s Public Authority had the legal right to deny me of my right to approach enrollment requirements fairly to remain on payroll I swear I’d be all good with it but I’d be absolutely puzzled that my county was an island unto itself that had that type of power to overried codes and laws that were set forth to help me out as a current IHSS provider. I can find no words on letter d-33 from the California Department of Social Services that my county or any county was given special favor to rise above my rights. One of which was the right to do orientatioin by mail but also included my right to do at least 3 other options one by one instead of being forced to first do an in person orientation before I could approach the other requirements.

If no one can produce legal proof of that type of control and power over state codes I want my money today. The timing is so bad I won’t even get a chance to play catch up with the enrollment process currently. I’ll still have to start at ground zero which is also ridiculous considering I would have never had to take 4 hours away from my busy schedule to sit in a room for orientation. I’ll never get that opportunity back.

As I requested in my last post. Please if anyone can help I’d really appreciate it.

Dear Concerned IHSS Provider,

Thank you so very much for sharing your story.

Please contact me and let me know what county you are working in. I will see if I can get you some help.
Email me at kloomis@udwa.org

Kristine Loomis

Kristine thank you so much for responding. This site has become almost a holy grail to me as I try to seek out more information that would be related to my situation. I’ve found something else that just adds to the continued shock of what my county IHSS public authority pulled on me. When I found the following link my jaw dropped. Scroll to number 9 http://www.udwa.org//pdf_docs/2010/20100615-IHSS%20Provider%20Enrollment%20Fact%20Sheet%20FINAL.pdf

While I was calling my public authority in june begging to do just one of the requirements to stay on payroll and being rejected the CDSS is making a public announcement on June 15th telling current IHSS providers who have not started enrollment to visit their county IHSS office to re-enroll in the program. I volunteered to come in the following day to do just that and my public authority flat out said… NO! I was told in my county I couldn’t do that until I had done a mandatory in person orientation. The law is very clear and so was CDSS that filling out form 426 which is the enrollment form does NOT require orientation to be completed.

That fact sheet is riddled full of information from CDSS making it clear their goal was to keep the IHSS provider on the payroll. However, my Public Authority did Zero to keep me on payroll after I didn’t attend an in person orientation.

Do you know who made the public announcement on June 15th to go in and fill out the enrollment form to stay on payroll? The Director of CDSS John Wagner himself. It’s right here on this link

http://www.udwa.org//pdf_docs/2010/20100615-IHSS%20Provider%20Enrollment%20FINAL%206%2015%2010%20500pm.pdf

How can my Public Authority go over his head, ignore every law and code protecting me and my name on payroll and willingly watch me go off payroll while that fact sheet and the Director of the CDSS is telling her save my job for me?

I knew none of this back in June. I trusted every thing she shoveled my way which included a letter from her office to me which I still have dated April 16th which states… ” If you fail to attend THIS mandatory provider enrollment orientation you will be ineligible to be enrolled as an IHSS Provider.” that is an exact quote.

From way back in April after she’d already denied me my legal right to do orientation through mail and hadn’t let me know I could do any requirement singularly nor would she have accepted that approach, she makes it clear if I don’t do it her way in regard to orientation I won’t even be eligible after that date to be enrolled and that’s exactly what she did to me after that date.

She literally blocked me from everything after that day. I never got a single letter from her office telling me I could run by and fill out form 426 or go get finger prints. She’d already removed my legal right to do orientation by mail. This woman offered me nothing after that April date to save my job. She really did treat me like I was officially ineligible to enroll after that April date.

All the while CDSS is sending her reminders twice every month with a list of those who hadn’t started enrollment to contact them and encourage them to get in and do just one requirement. By the 15th they weren’t even saying do an orientation. Just go in and sign the enrollment form and show some id.

While CDSS was focusing on saving the worker my Public Authority focused on processing paperwork as fast as she could and if you didn’t show up for the in person mass paperwork processing session she call a mandatory orientation she literally blew you off from that point on.

This woman took my job from me because I didn’t do things her way. She took every law and code and threw them out. Went over the Directors head refused my requests in June to remain on payroll and well before June ever arrived defined me as ineligible to enroll as an IHSS provider.

I need no more information to know my Public Authority clearly did wrong and I want my entire pay immediately and I do mean my entire amount to include July through the end of this Dec seeing as how I should have never been removed had she at least done what the director of CDSS requested especially when I called and requested it. I think it’s absolutely disgusting what went down in my county.

I am wondering just how many in my county simply walked away from the job believing her as I did when all along CDSS was telling her to try any means to save the current IHSS providers job for them. The mess this woman caused for me personally is non acceptable. I lost money. My mother went off IHSS because of this womans choices and now is waiting to start the process of applying all over again. She would have never been off the program had I remained registered as I should have had my public Authority followed the law and the director of CDSS request to preserve my job.

I’m stunned and very angry and I want all of this fixed real fast. There’s no song or dance left and her bragging she can overried laws at will just doesn’t work. She went over the Directors head who told someone like me to request that option to fill out that form and she said no.

Thank you thank you for this site. Now how do I get her to fix this and do right by me and get me my money?

The Union Rep who I’ve been communicating with has been so sweet. It’s been hard trying to explain to her about all the laws and codes and collect all the links for her.

Would it be possible since all those pdf files are so valuable if you could post them on the first page for easier access?

Hopefully someone can direct her to this post and she can hit the links I’ve provided in this post.

Kristine could you make her aware of this post? She hasn’t called back just yet to let me know what her email is or I would have emailed her the links but I want to get this info to her as soon as possible so she can start looking at it. Her name is Pauline. I think she’s from the south cali area.

I hope she doesn’t mind me putting her first name out there like that but she really is sweet and has tried her hardest to gain an understanding in all this and I’ve so appreciated it.

Hopefully Pauline will read this because this link is just for her. It’s the June 15th letter from the CDSS to every IHSS county manager with all the codes and proper procedures that Public Authority was to apply when dealing with the the enrollment process.. Now I’m trying to figure out if my public authority followed any law or code at all. She basically was her own little empire just doing things her own way. Links below and again thank God for this website!!!

http://www.udwa.org//pdf_docs/2010/ACL%20on%20provider%20enrollment%206%2015%2010.pdf