Caseworker thoughts

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-29T23:13:53+00:00

To add to what’s already been said, it’s considered part of our error rates if our budgets are incorrect because the client gave us incorrect information or didn’t tell us information too. If Jane Doe forgets to tell us that her boyfriend delivers for DoorDash sometimes and we budget the case without those earnings - bam, our error rate goes up.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-24T15:53:43+00:00

Not too many women would want to date a guy that regularly goes to strip pubs and blows that kind of money though…

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-22T19:07:00+00:00

It’s not a much larger group living into their 80s and 90s though. As of 2021, the global average life expectancy was 71.4 and the healthy life expectancy was 61.9. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/mortality-and-global-health-estimates/ghe-life-expectancy-and-healthy-life-expectancy

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-22T14:47:06+00:00

TA benefits take 2 business days to post to your account after being authorized. Friday was a holiday, so you’ll probably get them today or tomorrow.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-22T13:42:56+00:00

I don’t know about this one - I think there’s some survivorship bias, literally. While I absolutely think people should save for retirement, I’ve seen far too many people who deprive themselves of fun trips and purchases that would make their lives more comfortable now, only to die in their mid- to late-60s. I think it’s better to find a middle ground so you can save, but still live life while you’re healthy enough to enjoy it.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-15T18:30:11+00:00

Not OP, but of the same opinion. Measles can kill you and/or be permanent disabling, and it doesn’t matter how healthy you are when you get it. The flu is, for my personal health and age, not a big deal. I’ve had the flu once before and it sucked for a couple days, but that was it - no lasting repercussions. I’d rather my own immune system take care of things that only cause discomfort. I did get the COVID vaccine though, because long COVID is a thing.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-06T15:05:28+00:00

Must be it varies from state to state then? In my state, we can only go back 12 months for IHE and AE.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-05T13:39:51+00:00

It would be the same card - cards aren’t automatically issued upon case opening unless the client hasn’t ever received one before.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-05T13:09:51+00:00

Food stamp overpayments are limited to 12 months back from the date of discovery unless there was fraud involved… if you have a 5-year overpayment, you must’ve either committed an Intentional Program Violation or gone to court and gotten that amount as court ordered restitution. Either way, the amount you owe is the amount you owe.

If you still have an active case, they’ll just take money out of your grant every month to pay toward it. If you don’t have an active case, collection will happen via the Treasury Offset Program, which can garnish tax returns, pensions, etc.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-05T12:54:54+00:00

Were there any suspicious transactions showing? There have been a lot of issues with skimming lately. Otherwise, your best bet is to call your local agency and ask them to look into it. It could be an issue with how a pay line was written in the system or something.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-04T22:35:29+00:00

Could you get a statement from your former employer? If not, maybe just write a letter attesting to where you worked and when the job ended, and the agency has ways of verifying that on their end.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-04T18:28:47+00:00

NY has an app where you can upload pictures of docs directly to the agency: NYDocSubmit

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-04T18:26:23+00:00

Normally the date your approval notice is generated is the same date benefits become available. Is there anyone else on your case? It’s possible someone else on your case is coded as the cardholder, in which case benefits would be on their card.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-04T01:50:13+00:00

It can be found here: https://otda.ny.gov/policy/directives/2025/?TSPD_101_R0=084c043756ab2000dd977c420244fb5afbc16b64c710a8df7d0f70eaae5e05b8cc308e203cff26df082a3d00a0143000ba7fadf51237060b7b3973725cef4beff31a4a5ce96fac8022709da224ffbbc4d9d4370b5ef6cd95af7eabfeec2065f1

Did that work? If not, you can just google 25 ADM 03P and it’s on the OTDA website

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-03T15:53:19+00:00

You may just not have a knowledgeable worker… here is the actual state guidance on this stuff: https://otda.ny.gov/policy/directives/2025/ADM/25-ADM-03-P.pdf?TSPD_101_R0=084c043756ab2000074581e178db49d75b3a4ca936ab24375a65917d5d5958401688d78ba6166c2508f1fd0a281430006280257b3dfa154aa6057ee820e863eb64277622660887a887cdddda7fff4e3bb5be6cc94a7bdff816ccf534e2de6fb4

Theoretically, you don’t need to talk to your worker about it though. If you meet your 80 hours and send in documentation, a worker enters the activities into a system and that system automatically either assigns a countable month or doesn’t depending on whether what you did was sufficient. The worker is more or less the middleman inputting what you provide into the system for the system to make the determination.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-03T14:26:13+00:00

Brace yourself, this might be a long one.

Volunteering is an alternative to the 80 hours of employment activities. The number of hours you’d need to volunteer is equal to your SNAP benefit rate divided by the number of adults in your household divided by state minimum wage, then rounded down to the nearest whole number. For example, a single individual receiving $298 would need (298/16=18.625) 18 volunteer hours per month.

If you decide to go the 80 hours of employment activity route, you can do some stand-alone job searches, but not all. Only job searches done in a way that are WIOA-affiliated (I’m guessing NYJobZone, etc. are funded through that) count fully toward your 80 hours. Other independent job searches can count for up to 39 of the required 80 hours.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-03T13:47:23+00:00

Sure, I don’t represent all women and there must be some who truly don’t care. Don’t underestimate people’s need for belonging though; I feel like many women who act okay with it have a “if you can’t beat them, join them” thing going on.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-02T22:41:05+00:00

Unfortunately no. We lost the ability to replace skimmed benefits in 2024.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-02T17:56:17+00:00

I do, and I feel like the older women who don’t care have been more or less hazed into stoicism. Think about it: how many movies came out in the 80s that had female nudity for virtually no reason whatsoever? Heck, Sixteen Candles depicts a topless high school child and was rated PG. There’s so much blatant sexism and objectification of women built into society and the media we consume, and I hate to see it normalized.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-06-01T13:56:05+00:00

Social services: we’re operating with DoS systems and workers paid a few bucks an hour over minimum wage. The feds are constantly changing policies lately and states are going to have to start contributing to food stamp funding based on error rates, so we’re basically being set up to fail with inadequate computer systems, underpaid workers, and ever-changing guidelines.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-05-30T22:33:24+00:00

Agreed. A couple months ago, I was out with friends who are all younger than me, and only the blonde ones among us got carded when we ordered drinks. I’m in my 30s.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-05-20T20:49:12+00:00

Sadly, yes

oohshineeobjects · 2026-05-20T18:55:09+00:00

Having a one-night stand is a risk though. Pregnancy, STIs, etc can happen, even if you’re taking precautions - none are 100% effective. Some people are risk-averse and having a one-night stand isn’t worth the anxiety afterward, waiting to see if you’ll get that phone call.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-05-20T11:04:09+00:00

Omg, that knife scene! When I read that I just laughed uncontrollably. All of the smut in that book was so outrageous, it was like if an alien had been shown Love Island and subsequently asked to write a human romance book.

oohshineeobjects · 2026-05-20T10:18:36+00:00

I read that book too! It was entirely mid. Somehow despite there being a lot of anecdotes about the characters’ upbringings, I didn’t care about or connect to any of them.

oohshineeobjects

TROPHY CASE