KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
The objective of Refugee Cash Assistance is to provide adequate financial support to meet the
subsistence needs of refugees for up to eight months upon arrival to the United States. It is
designed to help refugees move into employment as soon as possible, enabling the household to
become self-sufficient.
Eligibility for RCA is determined by program site staff based on 45 CFR sections 400.53, 400.58
and 400.59. Continued eligibility for RCA must be linked to both compliance with the Family
Self- Sufficiency Plan (FSSP), developed jointly by the client, case manager, and employment
specialist; and to income from employment.
The WF Director or her/his assigned staff must re-determine RCA eligibility monthly. For
each continued month of eligibility, case files shall contain a copy of the most recent
paycheck/stub and documentation showing compliance with the FSSP.
About RCA:
 Time eligibility for RCA is 8 months from your date of arrival in the U.S. (or final grant
of asylum, for asylees).
 The purpose of RCA is to provide financial support to meet your basic needs while you
seek employment.
 All adults between the ages of 18 and 64 (unless they meet certain Employment
Exemptions) are considered employable. However, children age 18 are not eligible for
RCA while they remain in school.
 You will be provided employment services such as job counseling, job placement, skills
re-certification, English Language Training, job upgrade assistance, and employer
follow-up.
 Inability to communicate in English does not exempt you from registration for
employment services, participation in employability service programs, carrying out job
search, and acceptance of appropriate offers of employment.
 It may be necessary for you to accept entry-level employment while you acquire
professional recertification or English language competency.
 You will receive written notice in your language ten days prior to your RCA termination
or reduction. No formal hearing is necessary, but you may contest this decision and
provide evidence that the termination or reduction is not warranted.
 If at any time, you believe you are being treated unfairly with regards to your RCA
benefits, you may write a letter to the Director of the sponsoring agency expressing your
views, and request a Hearing.
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
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KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
Employment Exemptions:
 You may remain eligible for RCA but exempt from participating in employment
services if you meet any of the following criteria, and you otherwise remain in
compliance with your Family Self-Sufficiency Plan (FSSP):
1. Temporarily unable to work due to medical condition: You are unable to
work due to a medical condition, and a physician documents that the illness or
injury is serious enough to temporarily prevent entry into employment or training.
You must provide this documentation to your case manager. At 180 days after
your arrival you must be reassessed to determine if you are ready to go to work,
and:
 if you are work ready, your FSSP must be amended and you must enroll in
employment services in order to continue receiving RCA.
 if you are still unable to work, but not eligible for SSI, you may continue
receiving RCA until no longer time eligible.
2. Long-term caretaker for a disabled person in the household: You are the only
appropriate caretaker in the household for another member in the household who
has a mental or physical impairment requiring home care on a substantially
continuous basis. The need for care and the impairment must be determined and
documented by a physician, licensed or certified psychologist, or LCSW, and you
must provide this documentation to your case manager.
3. Caretaker relative of a child under the age of three: You must have
documentation that it is in the best interest of the family’s self-sufficiency and
integration for you to provide full-time care of the child with only brief and
infrequent absences from the child. In addition, if childcare is offered on-site by
the resettlement agency, to be eligible for RCA you must comply with all other
RCA requirements such as attending ELT and cultural orientation.
4. You are pregnant with your first child: While pregnant, you must fully
participate in all other self-sufficiency requirements such as attending ELT and
cultural orientation until the child is born or you are no longer time eligible for
RCA.
5. You are a victim of domestic violence and your case manager determines it is
in your best interest to temporarily suspend employment services: You must
fully participate in all other self-sufficiency requirements such as attending ELT
and cultural orientation, and your case may be split into a separate case, and the
FSSP amended to reflect these changes.
 If you are single, time eligible for RCA and meet one of the employment exemptions
above, you will receive the full RCA amount while you remain eligible.
 If you are a case of two (married couple without minor children), time eligible for RCA,
and one person in the case meets one of the employment exemptions above, your case
will remain a case of two. Your case will receive the full RCA amount while you remain
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
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KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
eligible, until the non-exempt member of the case gains employment, at which time your
case will receive either a reduction of termination of RCA, based on the earned income
for a case of two. The employment-exempted client may not be re-enrolled as a case of
one, even if the non-exempted spouse’s employment leads to a termination or reduction
of RCA.
About RCA Checks:
 All checks are provided by your sponsoring agency. If you have questions regarding
cash assistance checks, please see your RCA caseworker whose name appears at the
bottom of this document.
 Your first RCA check is determined by the number of days remaining in the month from
the day you enrolled in the program. Therefore, the initial check may be less than the fullmonth check.
 Beginning the second month after enrollment, you will receive your first full RCA check.
Every attempt will be made to have your check ready on the first day of each month, but
there could be occasional delays.
 Maximum monthly cash assistance amounts are: $300 for singles, or $450 for couples.
 Cash assistance checks will continue until you begin working, or until eight months has
passed, whichever is sooner. When you gain employment your RCA caseworker will
evaluate your income level to determine further eligibility for RCA benefits. Your
benefits may be terminated or you may qualify for reduced disbursements.
 When your four-week income reaches 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, you will no
longer be eligible for RCA. This amount is based on your gross pay, meaning the amount
you earned before taxes or other deductions were taken out.
Your Responsibilities:
 While you receive RCA and are looking for work, you are required to attend
English Language Training (ELT) as part of an overall employability plan, and in
accordance with your Family Self-Sufficiency Plan (FSSP).
You will receive
transportation to ELT until you begin work.
 If you cannot attend ELT for any reason, notify your caseworker as soon as possible.
 Unexcused absences from ELT may result in termination of RCA or cash reductions.
 Each unexcused absence may result in a reduction of $10.00 for singles or $15.00 for
couples (or $7.50 for each client in a couple).
 Continued and/or repeated unexcused absences will result in “3 payment months sanction
for the first failure and 6 payment months for any subsequent such failure” (CFR 400.82).
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
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KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
 As soon as you gain employment, and for each month you remain employed and
receiving RCA, you must present your pay stubs to your RCA caseworker so s/he can
determine your continued RCA eligibility.
 It is your responsibility to present pay stubs to your RCA caseworker. If you do not, s/he
will assume that you earn enough money to not require cash assistance and your RCA
will be terminated.
Employment Cash Incentives
 For each of the bonuses, your case manager must submit within 45 days of the date you
became eligible for the bonus, a completed RCA Incentive Request and any necessary
documentation, to Kentucky Office for Refugees.
 You may be eligible for a Job Acceptance Bonus of $250, and a Job Retention bonus
of $450 or a Reduced Job Retention Bonus.
 Incentives are available only to clients who comply with their employability plan and
who are time-eligible at the time they achieve the stated goal, and who meet the
following criteria:
1. You are eligible for Refugee Cash Assistance and not have been previously
enrolled in the Match Grant program.
2. You are employed no later than 120 days after arrival in the United States, or if
any of the following exemptions apply, no later than 150 days after arrival:
 You have a medical condition as defined and documented by a
medical professional that needs continued attention prior to job
placement.
 You have not yet received your Social Security card or Employment
Authorization Document (EAD).
 You have been participating in active job search but the Job Developer
has been unable to locate and provide job placement for you.
3. Your job placement is full-time as defined by the employer, and not less than 30
hours a week.
4. If you are an RCA client who turns age 18 during the initial eight months of your
eligibility, you may be eligible to receive the cash incentives if you are employed
no later than 120 days after your RCA enrollment, AND you are enrolled in
Wilson-Fish Employment services, not attending public school, and no longer
included as part of a TANF case.
 Job Acceptance Bonus of $250: You are eligible to receive this bonus if you accept a
job located by your sponsoring agency or if you locate your own job. You must submit
your first paycheck stub to verify employment in order to be eligible to receive the job
acceptance bonus.
 Job Retention Bonus of $450: You are eligible to receive this bonus if you retain the
initial job placement for a period of 90 days. You must submit all paycheck stubs for the
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
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KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
90-day employment period to be eligible to receive the employment bonus. You may
also be eligible for this bonus if you meet the following criteria:
1.
If you are laid off from the initial job placement, and you:
a) inform the Job Developer of this action within seven days; and
b) return to ELT School and maintain attendance until job placement; and
c) become employed no later than 30 days after the layoff.
If you quit the initial job placement and locate employment again within 30 days of quitting, you may still be
eligible for Job Retention Bonus if you have Good Cause, defined as:
a) You left for a new job with improved working conditions like higher
wages, health benefits or improved health benefits, or better working
hours. You must have a bona-fide job offer from the new employer,
verified by the Job Developer.
b) You lost transportation to the job site due to no fault of your own, but
only if you inform the Job Developer of the loss of transportation within
seven days and you return to ELT School and maintain attendance until
job placement.
c) You have medical conditions that were unknown prior to job placement,
that make you unable to continue initial job placement, but only if you
inform the Job Developer of the problem before you quit the job, and you
obtain documentation from a medical professional that the job placement
is hazardous to your health, and you return to ELT School within seven
days and maintain attendance until job placement.
If any of the above apply to you, and you locate employment again within 30 days, you are eligible to receive this
bonus one the total job retention from both placements is equal to 90 days, if you are still time-eligible for RCA.
Reduced Job Retention Bonus: You are eligible to receive this bonus if you meet all of the requirements of the
regular Job Retention Bonus, but your earned income is between 100%-150% of the Federal Poverty Level. You
can either receive this bonus or monthly cash assistance, but not both. If you request the Reduced Job Retention
Bonus, you or your case will be terminated from RCA. If you lose your job after you qualify for this bonus, and you
are still time-eligible for RCA, your RCA may be activated again. The amount of this bonus will be calculated as
follows:
If you are a single case and you earned between 100%-124% of the Federal Poverty Level, the bonus will be $350.
If you earn between 125%-149% of the FPL, the bonus will be $400.
If you are part of a case of two and your case earned between 100%-124% the bonus will be worth $301. If your
case earned between 125%-149% the bonus will be worth $373.
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
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KYWF-2
Kentucky Office for Refugees
Wilson-Fish Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) Orientation
By signing below, you indicate _____________________________ has received this information in her/his own
language on the date below, and a written copy was given to the client in her/his own language.
___________________________________________________
Signature of Client
___________________________________________________
Signature of Interpreter
_______________________________________________________
Signature of Case Manager or WF Coordinator
(Revised 2/8/2011)
KOR WF-RCA Orientation 2011
________________________
Date
________________________
Date
__________________________
Date
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