Technical Assistance for Caseworkers on Civil Rights Laws and Welfare Reform

III. What Conduct Is Prohibited In Federally Funded Programs and Activities?

Welfare providers that receive Federal financial assistance may not discriminate against people on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or age in how they run their program or activity, or on the basis of sex in education programs. Entities may not subject persons to harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or age, or on the basis of sex in education programs. (Section V below discusses nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in more detail.)

Welfare providers may not indirectly discriminate on these bases through contractors or by means of any other arrangement. Welfare providers are responsible for ensuring that their contractors administer their program in a nondiscriminatory manner. It should be noted that public entities and private businesses that contract with states to administer welfare programs are subject to the nondiscrimination statutes because they act as agents of the recipient in carrying out the program or activity, not because they are recipients of Federal assistance.

Programs may not exclude or deny welfare benefits to persons based on their race, color, national origin, disability, or age, or on the basis of sex in education programs.

Examples:

• Welfare caseworkers may not reject an applicant for benefits because he is or appears to be an African-American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Alaskan Native, or a member of another racial or ethnic minority.
• County employees may not make an assumption regarding a person’s citizenship and/or eligibility for welfare or food stamp benefits based on the person’s last name and then reject the applicant on this basis.
• A TANF contractor's employees may not deny benefits to persons who are not fluent in English because they assume persons who are or appear to be from other countries, and are not English proficient, are not eligible for such benefits.

Programs may not impose different standards or procedures to determine who may receive benefits on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, or age, or on the basis of sex in education programs.

Examples:

• Employees may not require an African-American male to submit additional or different documents than what is asked of a white male to establish his legal status and eligibility for welfare benefits in the absence of evidence to warrant further inquiry.
• If a local welfare office accepts a particular INS Form to establish a white woman's eligibility for welfare benefits, the welfare office cannot require a Hispanic male applicant who submits the same form to provide additional proof of his legal status and eligibility for welfare benefits in the absence of evidence to warrant further inquiry.
• A provider of TANF assistance under a program requiring verification of qualified immigration status may not accept a self declaration of such status from applicants who appear to be of African origin, yet require all immigrants from Spanish speaking nations to submit INS documentation because of an assumption that these applicants are illegal aliens.
• A welfare provider’s intake personnel may not report suspected illegal aliens to the INS on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Independent evidence supporting such suspicions is necessary.
• A county welfare office may not subject a Russian immigrant to alien verification requirements because of his national origin when the applicant is applying for benefits under a program that does not require such verification.
• An employee of a contractor hired by a State may not delay a review of applications from older individuals (over age 40) until after she evaluates applications from younger persons.
• Employees should not question the authenticity of documents submitted by applicants who are or appear to be Hispanic, in the absence of independent evidence to warrant such inquiry. All documents should be presumed to be authentic and legitimate, if they appear genuine on their face and relate to the individual.
• A welfare office may not refuse to provide translated written materials to applicants when a significant proportion are limited English proficient. Limited English proficient individuals are entitled to effective communication in a language and mode of communication understood by that individual.
• If States choose to impose drug testing on participants, they must do so without regard to race, color, or national origin. For example, if a sample of the participant population is tested, the race and ethnicity of members in this sample may not be disproportionate to the race and ethnicity of participants overall. Further, States must ensure that the consequences of positive tests are not imposed differently based on the race or ethnicity of the participant.
• Employees of a State welfare office may not reject white applicants for food stamp assistance because they assume that only minority applicants have large families to provide for.

Programs may not provide different benefits to persons on the basis of their race, color, national origin, disability, or age, or on the basis of sex in education programs.

Examples:

• Employees must provide complete information to all persons who ask questions about the type of benefits, including job training assistance, placement, and other services, and not fail or refuse to provide the same, complete information on opportunities to persons who are or appear to be Asian.
• A county employee may not reject applicants for job training programs because they are or appear to be Hispanic.
• A contractor's employee may not enroll a male participant in a computer training program and deny a female participant an opportunity for the same program solely because the employee assumes the woman has poor math skills and will not succeed at computer training.
• A welfare caseworker may not assume that a single mother with four children would be unable to complete a rigorous training course because of her family responsibilities.
• A welfare agency employee may not assume, because a welfare participant is over 50 years, that he is too weak for certain training classes for manual labor, or too old to be placed in computer training classes, while younger welfare participants with the same background, are placed in these training classes.
• A welfare office located in an area consisting of predominantly Haitian immigrants with limited English proficiency must provide written materials or other communication services that describe all of the benefits and services offered to applicants and participants in both English and French.
• A rural county welfare office that serves Vietnamese and Russian immigrants should arrange for language assistance.
• In order to provide equal access to services, an employment referral service in a large metropolitan area with a significant number of Spanish speaking welfare participants and applicants might have bilingual staff in positions that require frequent contact with participants or readily available interpretation services to serve such participants.

Index: Technical Assistance for Caseworkers
1. What Federal Nondiscrimination Laws Apply to TANF Programs?
2. Who Is Covered by Federal Nondiscrimination Laws?
3. What Conduct Is Prohibited In Federally Funded Programs and Activities?
4. What Type of Conduct Is Prohibited in Employment Settings?
5. What Conduct on the Basis of Disability is Prohibited?
6. How Are The Nondiscrimination Laws Enforced?
7. Who May File A Complaint of Discrimination?

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Date of last revision: March 3, 2006

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