2002 Minnesota Statutes

     256J.38 Correction of overpayments and underpayments. 

    Subdivision 1.    Scope of overpayment.  When a 
 participant or former participant receives an overpayment due to 
 agency, client, or ATM error, or due to assistance received 
 while an appeal is pending and the participant or former 
 participant is determined ineligible for assistance or for less 
 assistance than was received, the county agency must recoup or 
 recover the overpayment using the following methods:  

    (1) reconstruct each affected budget month and 
 corresponding payment month; 

    (2) use the policies and procedures that were in effect for 
 the payment month; and 

    (3) do not allow employment disregards in section 256J.21, 
 subdivision 3 or 4, in the calculation of the overpayment when 
 the unit has not reported within two calendar months following 
 the end of the month in which the income was received. 

    Subd. 2.    Notice of overpayment.  When a county agency 
 discovers that a participant or former participant has received 
 an overpayment for one or more months, the county agency must 
 notify the participant or former participant of the overpayment 
 in writing.  A notice of overpayment must specify the reason for 
 the overpayment, the authority for citing the overpayment, the 
 time period in which the overpayment occurred, the amount of the 
 overpayment, and the participant's or former participant's right 
 to appeal.  No limit applies to the period in which the county 
 agency is required to recoup or recover an overpayment according 
 to subdivisions 3 and 4. 

    Subd. 3.    Recovering overpayments from former 
 participants.  A county agency must initiate efforts to 
 recover overpayments paid to a former participant.  Adults and 
 minor caregivers of an assistance unit at the time an 
 overpayment occurs, whether receiving assistance or not, are 
 jointly and individually liable for repayment of the 
 overpayment.  The county agency must request repayment from the 
 former participants.  When an agreement for repayment is not 
 completed within six months of the date of discovery or when 
 there is a default on an agreement for repayment after six 
 months, the county agency must initiate recovery consistent with 
 chapter 270A, or section 541.05.  When a person has been 
 convicted of fraud under section 256.98, recovery must be sought 
 regardless of the amount of overpayment.  When an overpayment is 
 less than $35, and is not the result of a fraud conviction under 
 section 256.98, the county agency must not seek recovery under 
 this subdivision.  The county agency must retain information 
 about all overpayments regardless of the amount.  When an adult 
 or minor caregiver reapplies for assistance, the overpayment 
 must be recouped under subdivision 4. 

    Subd. 4.    Recouping overpayments from participants.  A 
 participant may voluntarily repay, in part or in full, an 
 overpayment even if assistance is reduced under this 
 subdivision, until the total amount of the overpayment is 
 repaid.  When an overpayment occurs due to fraud, the county 
 agency must recover ten percent of the applicable standard or 
 the amount of the monthly assistance payment, whichever is 
 less.  When a nonfraud overpayment occurs, the county agency 
 must recover three percent of the MFIP standard of need or the 
 amount of the monthly assistance payment, whichever is less.  

    Subd. 5.    Recovering automatic teller machine errors.  
 For recipients receiving benefits via electronic benefit 
 transfer, if the overpayment is a result of an ATM dispensing 
 funds in error to the recipient, the agency may recover the ATM 
 error by immediately withdrawing funds from the recipient's 
 electronic benefit transfer account, up to the amount of the 
 error. 

    Subd. 6.    Scope of underpayments.  A county agency 
 must issue a corrective payment for underpayments made to a 
 participant or to a person who would be a participant if an 
 agency or client error causing the underpayment had not occurred.
 The county agency must issue the corrective payment according to 
 subdivision 8. 

    Subd. 7.    Identifying the underpayment.  An 
 underpayment may be identified by a county agency, by a 
 participant, by a former participant, or by a person who would 
 be a participant except for agency or client error. 

    Subd. 8.    Issuing corrective payments.  A county 
 agency must correct an underpayment within seven calendar days 
 after the underpayment has been identified, by adding the 
 corrective payment amount to the monthly assistance payment of 
 the participant or by issuing a separate payment to a 
 participant or former participant, or by reducing an existing 
 overpayment balance.  When an underpayment occurs in a payment 
 month and is not identified until the next payment month or 
 later, the county agency must first subtract the underpayment 
 from any overpayment balance before issuing the corrective 
 payment.  The county agency must not apply an underpayment in a 
 current payment month against an overpayment balance.  When an 
 underpayment in the current payment month is identified, the 
 corrective payment must be issued within seven calendar days 
 after the underpayment is identified. 

    Subd. 9.    Appeals.  A participant may appeal an 
 underpayment, an overpayment, and a reduction in an assistance 
 payment made to recoup the overpayment under subdivision 4.  The 
 participant's appeal of each issue must be timely under section 
 256.045.  When an appeal based on the notice issued under 
 subdivision 2 is not timely, the fact or the amount of that 
 overpayment must not be considered as a part of a later appeal, 
 including an appeal of a reduction in an assistance payment to 
 recoup that overpayment. 

    HIST: 1997 c 85 art 1 s 27; 1998 c 407 art 6 s 76; 1999 c 245 
 art 6 s 49