Must Be a Better Way
At the end of last week’s blog I asked you to keep reading to find out if Team Travis’s decision to pay for Travis’s 1:1 job training out of his Supported Living Services (SLS) state waiver at his current job turned out to be a good investment. I am going to tell you about that experience is just a bit.
Today I decided to do some research on the SSA “Ticket to Work” program. Per the SSA website, “The Ticket to Work and Self Sufficiency (Ticket) Program is a Federally-funded employment program designed to provide Social Security disability beneficiaries (i.e., individuals receiving Social Security Disability Insurance and/or Supplemental Security Income benefits based on disability) the choices, opportunities and support they need to enter the workforce and maintain employment with the goal of becoming economically self-supporting over time.”
I have to be honest. When I helped Travis apply for services at the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), I did not know anything about having a “Ticket to Work”. As I look back through Travis’s DVR application packet there is a fact sheet describing the “Ticket to Work” (TTW) program. The fact sheet states that the goal of the TTW program is to assist individuals in obtaining employment and working towards becoming self-sufficient.
The TTW program is the key to accessing vocational rehabilitation, training, placement services, as well as other services and support to help you receive your employment goals. Let me give you a quick recap of the DVR process. Travis completed the application process. The DVR counselor determines eligibility and priority for services. Travis fell in the category of individuals with the most significant disabilities. Which placed him at the top of the DVR waitlist behind others with significant disabilities with earlier application dates.
Once Travis came off the waitlist, we participated with the DVR counselor in developing his Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE). The IPE identifies a specific employment goal and includes the services and supports that are necessary to reach that goal. Once your IPE is approved and signed, your TTW from Social Security is placed “In-Use”. While you are using your Ticket, SSA excuses you from Medical Disability Reviews as long as you are actively participating in the program and meeting SSA’s Timely Progress benchmarks.
It is all of a sudden becoming clearer to me why DVR closed Travis’s file. There are many progress guidelines that include schooling or vocational training programs, work experience, or a combination of both. Lots of detail. I will just cover Travis’s experience.
Travis was meeting the timely progress guidelines during his first year of receiving DVR support because he completed a minimum of three months of work at Trial Work Level (TWL). So far, so good.
Travis was meeting the timely progress guidelines during his second year with DVR because he completed a minimum of six months of work at TWL. So far, so good.
By the end of year three, Travis was supposed to have worked at Substantial Gainful Activity level for nine months. Uh-oh. The timely progress requirements go up each year. Travis had been with DVR for approximately three and a half years and never achieved substantial gainful activity. What is substantial gainful activity? It equates to earning at least $1,260 gross per month.
I decided to dig a bit deeper. Employment Networks, (in Travis’s case this is DVR) are funded by SSA. The payment system is called the Milestone/Outcome Payment system. The ideal outcome is for an individual to have sufficient earnings to no longer qualify for benefits. Milestone payments offer Employment Networks some financial compensation prior to benefit cessation. This creates an incentive to for Employment Networks (ENs) to work with individuals who might take longer to achieve earnings high enough to result in the cessation of disability benefits.
Initially I wondered if this is why DVR would put individuals with significant disabilities at the top of their list. But then I looked closer at the Milestone/Outcome Payment chart.
Per the SSA website:
Phase 1 milestones are potentially available to ENs when the following criteria are met:
The beneficiary is in current pay status and receiving a monthly Federal benefit payment.
The beneficiary is working with earnings at or above the Trial Work Level (TWL).
The beneficiary's work constitutes a real job. Paid vocational training with no record of continued self-supporting employment is not considered a job under the Ticket Program.
The EN provided career planning and job placement services resulting in the beneficiary's short-term employment success.
The request for payment submitted by the EN includes information on the services provided to the beneficiary during this initial phase of employment.
Per the chart, an individual would need to be earning $910 per month gross to meet Phase 1, Milestone 1. Here is the chart for 2020:
I do not pretend to understand the intricacies of how this program works. If I understand the chart correctly, when DVR is successful in getting an individual off benefits they can potentially earn up to $28,320. In the past I wrote that I was grateful to DVR for making such a large investment in my boy. These earnings must be part of how DVR funds the supports they offer. I am not sure what other funds they may have available for their use. The DVR fact sheet from the State of Colorado does say that tax dollars are spent on these programs and DVR is held accountable for spending public funds in a way that helps an individual become employed.
One thing that is clear. DVR came to the realization that Travis was not going to be able to reach the benchmark of making $910 per month, let alone $1260. They could no longer afford to support him. It is my belief that they closed his file for this reason.
I found another form on the SSA website titled, “Informing Beneficiaries of the Goals of the Ticket Program”. One of the bullet points states that you can start out working part time during the first nine months, but should have a goal to become self-supporting with time. Another bullet point states that the Ticket program is not a good fit for every disability beneficiary. I found a similar form buried deep within the DVR application packet.
Travis is my only child with a disability. So there is a learning curve when it comes to advocating on his behalf. More than likely, I would have chosen the DVR path anyway because I am committed to leaving “No Stone Left Unturned”. By choosing DVR, we automatically chose the “Ticket to Work” program. I just wish that someone would have taken more time explaining the expected outcomes. Ideally we would love for Travis to be able to work full time and be self-sufficient. And I am the glass is half full type of person.
In my opinion, DVR should have shown up in person, as opposed to by phone, and shared with Team Travis that he was not meeting the progress guidelines and that they had come to the conclusion that it did not make sense to fund any more Trial Work Level type of work. DVR should have shared that if he was not ready to work a “real” job within a community setting at this point, they were unable to continue to fund his support.
I could accept that. The numbers make sense to me. Instead, they sent a letter saying he chose to not work in a community job. That was simply not true. Why would they say that? The only reason that I could come up with is that DVR is held accountable for spending public funds in a way that helps an individual become employed. Did saying that Travis chose not to work in the community setting, does that in some way make DVR less responsible for closing his file unsuccessfully?
Again, in my opinion, DVR should have come to the conclusion that Travis was not going to meet the TTW benchmarks by the end of year two. From that point forward the taxpayer was paying them and him. There must be a better way.
Which brings me to the decision to keep Travis on at the jewelry making job. Just to refresh your memory, DVR paid a provider agency to conduct a 29 hour assessment in this position to determine his work support needs. Once Travis completed this assessment, the agency that DVR hired shared with Team Travis that he simply was not ready to work in any type of community position because of the level of support that he needed to behave appropriately and stay on task.
The agency shared that Travis needed 1:1 support. They thought jewelry making could potentially be a good fit for Travis and they were willing to keep him as a paid employee with 1:1 support. DVR responded that they would not fund this support and closed the file. Team Travis agreed that it was important to Travis’s mental wellbeing to continue to support him working.
We rearranged his home and community based supports to make room for his waiver to fund job coaching. DVR is now out of the picture. But the confusion and continuous chaos continued.
Travis received an employment paperwork packet. I completed the entire packet with him. I returned the entire packet in a folder myself, directly to the provider agency office. Keep in mind that I spent almost my entire career as a business owner without a human resources department. Meaning that I completed employment paperwork on a regular basis.
Travis worked his first paid day on November 15th. Travis did not receive his employment paperwork packet until he had already been working. This concerned me. I had Travis’s case manager from the Community Center Board (CCB) drop a copy of his driver’s license and social security card to his place of employment on November 15th, so that the agency had it on the day he started. When I completed forms in the packet, such as the I9, I left the date blank. So that the agency could put in the date of hire.
On December 12th I inquired about pay dates. The provider agency responded that there was an issue with his employment paperwork. The agency shared that if they were unable to resolve the issue by the next day, Travis would be back paid for the two shifts he had worked in November. They were needing to research further to determine what the issue was with his employment paperwork. If they ended up having to back pay for those dates, it would be on a direct deposit on December 19th.
I did get an email from the agency that the I9 was missing the date. And that form 8550 was missing the second page. Another issue they ran into was changing the name of their company. All of the paperwork they provided had the old company name on it.
I was frustrated, to say the least. I had already notified them that I did not date the I9 because they needed to date it previous to him actually working. The second page of the 8850 is to be filled out by the EMPLOYER. The first page of form 8550 does not name the business. So the agency can still use it.
Next they could not find the copy of his license and social security card that was given to Travis’s job coach. An employee of the provider agency. They are missing. With all of his personal information on them. I had to bring new copies.
On December 17th I emailed the agency to make sure that everything was good to go for the December 19th direct deposit. The reply was that everything was good to go. I wish I could say that I was surprised when Travis did not receive a direct deposit on December 19th, but I wasn’t. There was another paperwork issue. I told them that I wanted a paper paycheck in Travis’s hands that day. And he did get one. But it did not include the back pay for November 15th.
When I touched base yet again, the agency responded that Travis did not get paid for that day because he was not on task. Umm, what? I needed someone to explain to me how his service plan pays for him to have a 1:1 job coach at the reduction of other needed services, and rent increases based on pay estimates, but he may or may not get paid for hours he is at work based on his ability to be on task. The job coach was getting paid. Aren’t they supposed to help keep Travis on task? We were told that Travis was a good fit. But that doesn’t appear to be the case if the job coach is unable to keep Travis engaged.
I also shared with the agency that it would be interesting to know if they had other clients that they were billing the state waiver for, but were not getting paid for their time at work.
She decided later that he was maybe on task for one hour out of his four hour shift, so she put in a direct deposit for that hour.
I sent an email to everyone I could think of including Travis’s past DVR counselor and her supervisor, sharing my concerns. It was just unbelievable to me that Travis’s state waiver was paying the agency approximately $55/hr for a 1:1 job coach and the agency was only planning to pay Travis for a portion of his four hour shift.
The agency replied that they were sorry that they were not more clear as to the expectations of the individuals that they employ. Per their email, “In order to meet CIE (Community Integrated Employment) criteria, in addition to promoting ourselves as community-based and as “typical” of an employer for IDD folks, the expectations are the same for both client employees and staff employees. Everyone is required to be on task and engaging in some type of work, to be earning pay.”
She also states in her reply email, “While Travis is staying at the worksite for his entire 4 hour shift, which is a drastic improvement, he has a tendency to refuse to engage in any type of task that is offered to him. Travis also steps out of the building for multiple smoke breaks. His refusal to engage in any task, play on his phone throughout his shift, take multiple breaks each hour doesn’t meet the standards of any employer. Travis is always offered a plethora of work tasks including retail tasks such as cleaning /stocking shelves/working back stock and sometimes even production and wire wrapping tasks. Some days are better than others, where Travis can be engaged in tasks, appropriately communicate with customers that come in the store, take initiative with finding things to do once he completes a task, and maintain appropriate topics of conversation with staff and customers in the store.”
Pay close attention here. This is what she goes on to say, in writing no less, “Our agency employs 200 individuals across our agency, with ability ranges across the entire spectrum. We have individuals that being on task and getting paid for 10 minutes of a 6 hour shift is a huge success, to individuals that are highly independent and are solidly on task and actively working for the entirety of their shift. The expectations are the same for each and every one, and that is in order to earn a paycheck, they must engage in worksite tasks.
I know that supported employment is incredibly expensive as a service, and this isn’t the first time we’ve heard frustration from guardians and individuals who are dealing with the Supported Living Services waiver in regards to having to sacrifice certain services in order to support individual job coaching.”
It may not be the first time the provider agency has heard about frustrations, but apparently I am the first person to share this experience by email with everyone I could think of.
The key is that the agency is calling Travis’s employment CIE, (Community Integrated Employment). Only this particular position is not CIE. That is the exact reason that DVR would no longer fund this position. CIE is a position at a business that happens to hire an ID/DD individual as part of their crew. The place that Travis works only employs individuals with ID/DD in order to train them to become employable in the community.
This is why I included the DVR staff on my email. Because if this was considered CIE, then DVR should continue to participate in the funding. I needed to hear their take. DVR strongly advised that this position was not a CIE position. They asked if they could forward my email and concerns to the State of Colorado. I received a call from the a representative from the state that indicated for every hour that Travis’s waiver gets billed for 1:1 job coaching, he is to get paid. His hourly wage comes out of the $55/hr billing paid to the agency.
I was told that not paying for the hours billed to his waiver was against the Department of Labor guidelines. And that it was horrifying that an ID/DD individual might only be getting paid 10 minutes for a 6 hour shift. Was that individual in a CIE position or in an ID/DD training position paid by their waiver? I guess that is a matter for the state to figure out. But doesn’t it make you wonder? Having a strong advocate is a necessity. Being a strong advocate is exhausting. There are just too many times that agencies specifically set up to serve individuals and protect them from exploitation are not getting it right.
Travis received his back pay. And he has since been paid for each hour he has worked. There have been a couple of other hiccups along the way. The agency has a high turnover of employees. All provider agencies do. It is a hard job. Change is hard for Travis. One job coach shared with Travis that his work is not good enough to sell, so they just take it a part after he leaves.
Getting Travis to go to work at all takes a great amount of support at my end. That certainly did not make it easier. I have shared with various staff on multiple occasions to put his finished work in a box at his work station. I have bought many pieces from that box. I have even brought some of my friends to the shop with me, and they were kind enough to buy some pieces too.
I have also shared that the store should have a small retail area of pieces made specifically by the ID/DD individuals. I think there are customers that would buy those pieces knowing that it was for a great cause. It is my belief that the bulk of the pieces that actually meet the standards to sell online or in the storefront are made by the job coaches themselves.
One day Travis called me from work. He asked me if I could put some money into his account so that he could run to Hobby Lobby and buy some wire wrap. The store did not have any on hand and they had orders to complete. I told him to stay at the store, I was nearby and would stop in. I asked the provider agency employee if Travis would get reimbursed if he spent personal money on wire wrap. She did not know. I asked her if he got into an accident on his way to Hobby Lobby, if the agency’s insurance would cover the cost. She said she did not know. I asked if there was any other employee working that could answer the questions. She said she was the only one there. I asked her if she was Travis’s job coach. She said no. She did share with me that it was her first day.
I called the supported employment manager of the agency from my cell phone. I shared the entire story with her. And asked how they can bill $55/hr for a job coach when there was not a job coach there. She came straight from the office, got there within twenty minutes. She told me that the new employee was indeed Travis’s job coach. There had been times when I asked Travis who his job coach was and he would reply he didn’t know. I figured he couldn’t remember. But if the employee doesn’t even know she is, how would he know?
I stopped in on a few more occasions, unexpectedly. Let’s just say that Travis is not the only ID/DD individual working there that spends their time playing on their phone. I never saw any 1:1 training on the actual production of jewelry. The last time I was there I asked to see the pieces in his box. The job coach was actually helping Travis to put together a display with just his pieces on it. She was going to share the idea again of having an area in the retail space for his personally designed pieces.
As I was looking through the pieces a customer that was shopping in the store came over and asked if he could have a look. Travis excitedly told the customer about his pieces. The customer picked one and added it to the other items he had picked out. Just like that. Travis beamed.
Then came Covid-19. The store was closed for business. The State of Colorado allowed provider agencies to continue to bill their regular services from the waiver so that they could keep their employees paid. As long as they billed his waiver, the agency was required to pay Travis as well.
That ended a couple of weeks ago. The store has decided not to employ ID/DD individuals in the production of jewelry. It did not make sense to have Travis continue to work there on the retail side. There is just not enough business to keep one person busy. Continuing to work there was in no way preparing Travis to work in a community position.
Do you want to know what I am going to ask the supported employment staff member to work with Travis on next? Getting a temporary job at a Halloween store. Lol! If you have been following our story you will understand why that is so funny. Five years later and we have come full circle.
Good investment? Well we are starting back at the beginning, five years later. So….
“What is the secret of success? Right decisions. How to you make right decisions? Experience. How do you get experience” Wrong Decisions! - Author Unknown
I bought this keychain out of Travis’s work station box. It hangs in my car so that I can see it everytime I drive somewhere!
This piece is also a Travis creation. It looks like a flowered tree and it sits on the shelf in my office.
As you can see, Travis loves to wire wrap. This piece should be on a chain for a necklace, but somehow I broke the stone. So it also sits on my shelf in my office. I can see the beauty in the imperfections of the wire wrapping, just as we as people are all imperfect in our own ways.