Instrument 6: Staff time study

OMB #: 0970-0505

EXPIRATION: 04/30/2023

Procedural Justice informed alternatives to contempt (pjac)

staff time study

Introduction

The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Evaluation, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), is examining the effectiveness of incorporating procedural justice principles into child support practices as an alternative to the use of civil contempt to address nonpayment of support. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide information to practitioners and policymakers within multiple levels of government about promising strategies for working with noncustodial parents to increase reliable child support payments. MDRC, in partnership with MEF Associates, is conducting the evaluation on behalf of OCSE.

You are being asked to complete this time study because you work at an agency that is participating in the PJAC evaluation. This time study will ask for information about how you spend your time at work so that the evaluation team can assess the relative costs of the PJAC initiative. The survey should take about 1.5 hours over a two-week period. Your responses will be kept private to the extent permitted by law and used only for research purposes. Our study team is trained to follow strict rules to protect your privacy. Your responses will be combined with the responses of other staff and no individual names will be reported. No one from your agency or OCSE will see your individual responses.

Participation in the time study is completely voluntary. There are no known risks of participating, except that you may feel uncomfortable providing some information. No one from your agency will know if you decide to complete the time study or not.

If you have any questions about the time study, please do not hesitate to contact MDRC. You can reach MDRC by calling 1-xxx-xxx-xxxxx or emailing xxxxxxx@mdrc.org.

THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13)

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1.5 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0505 and it expires 04/30/2023. 

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Please read and respond to the statement below.

I have read the introduction and understand that the information I provide will be kept private to the extent permitted by law and used only for research purposes. My responses will be combined with the responses of other staff and no individual names will be reported.

□ I agree with the above statement and will complete the time study

□ I do not agree with the above statement and will not complete the time study (IF SELECTED, SKIP TO END OF SURVEY)

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Staff Activity Worksheet

Note: This time study will be administered to child support enforcement staff who may have control group members on their caseload and PJAC workers who have PJAC members on their caseload. Administrative staff, attorneys, child support establishment staff, and other staff will not be asked to complete the time study.

We are asking you to track how you spend your time over the course of two weeks on some broad activities by entering information in a web-based system. This will help us understand how you spend time serving NCPs and CPs, and help us assess the costs of various activities. This is not an audit. We are simply interested in getting a rough idea on the kinds of activities on which you spend your time.

• You will receive a separate survey link by email for each of the two weeks.

• The survey is organized into one time sheet for each day, centralized with a HOME section or Table of Contents that can be accessed by clicking the menu button in the top left of the screen.

• Your progress will be saved as you proceed through the survey, so you can feel free to close it after entering your information each day. It would be best if you record your time at the end of each workday, so that your activities are still fresh in your mind.

• At the end of each week you should proceed to the end of the survey and submit.

For each day during the week, please keep track of how much time you spend working on each of the listed activities.

The total time for each day should be the same as the total time you worked. For example, if you worked eight hours in a day, then you should record a total of eight hours across the activities for that day. You should include all of the activities you do as part of your job, including meeting with parents, attending staff meetings, doing paperwork, making telephone calls, and traveling to court. If you did not work on a particular day, or took time off during the day (e.g., for a doctor’s appointment), please record those hours under holiday, vacation, medical, other leave. Note: time in any category should be rounded to 15-minute (quarter hour) increments. If you handle multiple tasks in a given meeting (e.g., help with a modification request and develop a case action plan), divide your time across the different activity categories.

A. Enforcement Activities

1. Case Maintenance. Monitoring payment performance, reviewing arrearages, updating employer information and issuing withholding notices, sending reminder notices, and other maintenance activities.

2. Locate. Investigating contact information, referring to locate services, and attempting to contact parents. Note that time spent doing these activities for non-paying cases will be recorded separately from time spent for other purposes.

3. Case Conferences/Negotiation Meetings. Conducting case conferences or negotiations (in person or telephonically) for non-paying cases and for other purposes.

4. Developing Case Action Plans. Developing/ reviewing case action plans.

5. Modifications. Reviewing and processing modification requests.

6. Enforcement of Non-paying Cases. Determining ability to pay, taking enforcement actions (e.g., license suspension, liens), preparing cases for contempt, appearing at hearings, and other enforcement activities.

B. Other Activities

7. Administration. Training, staff or team meetings, and other activities.

8. State MIS. Entering information and documenting case activities in state data system Note: time spent entering information for the evaluation and conducting random assignment should be recorded in B.12: “Research-related activities.”

9. Referrals. Referring to other services such as: employment, mediation, domestic violence, parenting time, legal services, education, mental health, substance abuse, and other services.

10. Order Establishment. Interviewing applicants and processing paperwork to establish child support cases.

11. Paternity. Gathering information and processing paperwork to establish paternity.

12. Research-related activities. Collecting information about the noncustodial parent and their child support case required for random assignment, entering information for the evaluation in the MIS and conducting random assignment, meeting with the research team and OCSE, conducting calls with the research team and OCSE, completing this time study, and other research-related activities.

13. Other. Conducting any activities that do not fall into one of the above categories; if you use this category, please provide a brief explanation.

C. Leave

14. Leave. Time off for holiday, vacation, doctor’s appointments, lunch, breaks, and other leave.

Time Spent in Week (Hours)

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday		Friday		Saturday
A: Enforcement Activities
1. Case Maintenance
Monitor payment performance
Review overpayments, distributions
Conduct debt calculations
Update employer info/ issue withholding notices
Maintain child support files/ other case maintenance
2. Locate Services
Attempt to locate/contact NCPs for non-paying
Attempt to locate/contact NCPs for other reasons
Attempt to locate/contact CPs for non-paying NCPs
Attempt to locate/contact CPs for other reasons
3. Case Conferences/ Negotiation Meetings
Conduct case conference with CPs for non-paying cases
Conduct case conference with NCPs for non-paying cases
Conduct case conference with CPs and NCPs (together) for non-paying cases
Conduct case conference with CPs for other reasons
Conduct case conference with NCPs for other reasons
Conduct case conference with CPs and NCPs (together) for other reasons
4. Developing Case Action Plans
Developing case action plans
5. Modifications
Review modification requests
Process modification requests
6. Enforcement of Non-paying Cases
Determine ability to pay
Develop case action plan/negotiations (e.g., license reinstatement, arrears compromise)
Take enforcement actions due to non-payment (e.g., offsets, liens, suspensions)
Prepare case for contempt; interact with attorney
Appear at hearing
Other activities related to non-payment cases
B. Other Activities
7. Administration
Attend staff trainings
Attend staff meetings
Other administration
8. State MIS
9. Referrals
Employment services
Mediation/dispute resolution
Domestic Violence
Parenting time
Legal services
Education
Mental health/ substance abuse
Other services
10. Order Establishment
11. Paternity
12. Research-Related
13. Other Activities
C. Leave
14. Leave
Lunch, breaks
Holiday, vacation, medical, other leave

Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Other Description: ______________________________________________________________________________________________

PJAC Staff Time Study

Your participation in this information collection is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0505 and it expires 04/30/2023.  If you have comments regarding this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, please send them to Melanie Skemer, 200 Vesey Street 23^rd Floor New York, NY 10281; Attn: OMB-PRA (0970-0505). 3