Finding 2023-001: Reportable Finding Considered a Material Weakness – Eligibility
Assistance Listing Number: 10.181
Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Program: Pandemic Relief Activities: Farm and Food Worker Relief Program (FFWR)
Award Number: AM22FFWDC0002-02
Grant Years: 2023
Criteria: As described in Section 3.2 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture FFWR Request for Applications, all eligible workers receiving relief under the FFWR program must provide sufficient proof of identify and proof of work in an eligible field during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, employment documentation must show that the individual worked as a farmworker, meatpacker or grocery worker during the COVID-19 pandemic, defined as between January 20, 2020 and May 11, 2023, the official start and end dates of the COVID-19 public health emergency, and that the beneficiary did not receive any other payments under this FFWR program.
Eligible beneficiaries are hired workers in farming activities, meatpacking, and grocery store work.
Farmworkers and/or Meatpacking Workers Projects: Hired workers are defined by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) as anyone, other than an agricultural service worker, who was paid for at least one hour of agricultural work on a farm or ranch, or in a meat processing facility.
Worker type is determined by what the employee was primarily hired to do, not necessarily what work was done during the pandemic. Types of workers include:
a. Field Workers: Employees engaged in planting, tending, harvesting crops, and post-harvest activities as listed below, including operation of farm machinery on crop farms.
b. Livestock Workers: Employees tending livestock, milking cows, or caring for poultry, including operation of farm machinery on livestock or poultry workers.
c. Meatpacking Workers: Employees engaged in animal slaughtering and meat or poultry processing, including meat or poultry packaging. To help eligible entities understand what worker occupations qualify as eligible beneficiaries, below provides the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) codes and titles associated with field, livestock, and meatpacking workers. SOC codes are used by the Federal government to classify occupations (similar to how North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes are used for classifying business types). Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) expects beneficiaries across these worker types to be frontline workers, and not those working in management positions.
Type of Worker SOC Associated Titles:
Field Workers 45-2041 Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
Field Workers 45-2091 Agricultural Equipment Operators
Field Workers 45-2092 Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery and Greenhouse
Field Workers 45-2099 Agricultural Workers, All Other
Field Workers 53-7064 Packers and Packagers, Hand
Livestock Workers 45-2041 Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products
Livestock Workers 45-2093 Farmworkers, Farm, Ranch, and Aquacultural Animals
Livestock Workers 45-2099 Agricultural Workers, All Other
Livestock Workers 53-7064 Packers and Packagers, Hand
Meatpacking Workers 51-3023 Slaughterers and Meat Packers
Meatpacking Workers 51-3022 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers Meatpacking Workers 51-3099 Food Processing Workers, All Other
Grocery Store Workers Projects: Individuals employed in front line service or first line supervisory roles in retail grocery establishments as outlined in NAICS 445110 including cashiers, butchers and meat cutters, food preparation occupations, stocking grocery floors, and other food related activities. Further delineation of these occupations through SOC codes is not available, therefore eligible entities should rely on the NAICS code to make eligibility determinations.
The following information applies to both project types.
Beneficiary Application Process and Self-Certification
To apply for relief, workers will sign an application form which self-certifies that the individual incurred at least $600 worth of expenses preparing for, preventing exposure to, and/or responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The worker’s signature on an application also serves as self-certification that the individual worked in an eligible field in the U.S. during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Finally, the attestation states that the accompanying documentation must be consistent with the contents of the self-certification and that the applicant has not already applied for relief with another grant recipient. This application must be accompanied by documentation which meets the following categories.
Employment Verification: Workers are to submit documentation with sufficient detail to show employment in a related job field and with enough verifiable data to demonstrate authenticity and completeness. Documentation of employment at a food processing facility, meatpacking facility, farm, or grocery store may be demonstrated through evidence such as a W-2 tax form or paycheck stubs, employment letter or contract, H2A or H2B visa, photographic evidence of work in an eligible field, or a written and signed affidavit of work from an employer or employer representative. Grant recipients should have supporting documentation that, when taken together, demonstrate verifiable proof of employment of the eligible farm and food workers during the pandemic.
Identity Verification: Workers must also submit sufficient proof of identity to the grant recipient when requesting funds. Examples of such proof include legible and non-expired government-issued photo identification, two or more corroborating forms of non-photo identification, and/or other verified photo identification, as specified in the organization’s standard operating procedures.
Condition: During 2023, the Foundation, through the use of consultant contractors, began accepting FFWR benefit applications and making benefit payments. The process began in January 2023 and ran through March 2023. In March 2023, the program was halted as the Foundation had received more applications in the state of North Carolina than the estimated population of eligible workers. The Foundation’s consultant contractors conducted a manual review of all applications received through March 2023, total population of 131,168, and found 9,424 that were paid should have been denied.
Cause: The Foundation’s application portal, which was designed and managed by consultant contractors, failed to identify employment verification or identity verification documentation accurately as described in the criteria section above.
Effect: The Foundation paid 9,424 benefit checks to ineligible beneficiaries.
Context: There were 131,168 applications submitted from the period January to March 2023. Questioned Costs: There are known questioned costs of $5,654,400.
Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding.
Recommendation: The Foundation should review the procedures surrounding verification of employment and identity to ensure that the documentation provided by an application meets the criteria described above.
Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: The views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions is included at the end of this report.