It’s a difficult time to get a job, especially a good job. So it’s not surprising that participation in the Wisconsin Works program, W-2, has risen. W-2 helps low-income parents develop a self-sufficiency plan that can include job placements, other work activities, and education and job training. The program works in tandem with employment supports like child care, transportation assistance, and health care through BadgerCare Plus to help families become independent and successful.

The biennial budget makes major changes to W-2, making it more difficult for families to participate and be successful in the program. A few of those changes were discussed in “Way #8, W-2 Changes Reduce Mother-Baby Bonding Time and Cripple Education and Job Training.” Other changes include reducing payments for W-2 placements, removing the oral notice requirement before reduction or elimination of payment, and removing the “good cause” test and conciliation period.People engaged in work activities in the W-2 program get paid up to $673 per month for Community Service Jobs and $628 for transitional placements. Those amounts have been frozen since 1997; they would now be $930 and $870 respectively if they had increased with inflation over the past 14 years. On top of that loss of buying power, the 2011-13 biennial budget lowers payments by $20 per month. $20 may not seem like very much, but it adds up when your kids need new shoes or it’s extremely hot out and your electric bill is higher than usual.

Low-income families on W-2 will also see penalties imposed more quickly and with less transparency under this budget. Though many nonfiscal policy items were removed from the budget, these changes remained. Currently, before a 20% reduction in monthly payment or termination of payments, the W-2 agency must provide the participant with written notice followed up by oral notice of the impending action. The notice must explain the basis of the action and provide the participant time to remedy the failure or behavior that caused the reduction or termination. These requirements were eliminated.

Currently, when a W-2 participant does not participate in required activities, she faces potential payment sanctions and a three-month penalty. Before the penalty, the W-2 agency determines if there is good cause for her non-participation, and if there is not, she is offered a conciliation period to “make up” the failure and avoid the penalty. The good cause determination and conciliation period are eliminated in this budget. The repeal of these provisions is significant because they made decisions more transparent and gave participants the benefit of the doubt and fair treatment to help them succeed in the program.

If we want W-2 to work for Wisconsin families, the program must work with them, not against them. For more on the changes to W-2, see this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.

Sara Eskrich

Tomorrow—Way #30: Reducing the Ability for School Districts to Raise Money at the Local Level

About the series: “31 Ways in 31 Days” is a series of posts to the WCCF blog exploring the recently-passed biennial budget’s impact on children and families in Wisconsin. Each day in July, we are posting a description of one way the budget will affect kids and families, with an eye toward what should be done going forward to help improve outcomes and move us closer to the goal of making Wisconsin a place where every child has the opportunity to grow up, learn, and thrive in a safe, healthy, economically secure home and community.