New employment waiver services FAQ

The Minnesota Department of Human Services has started three new employment services that can be paid for by the Community Alternative Care (CAC), Community Access for Disability Inclusion (CADI), Brain Injury (BI) and Development Disabilities (DD) waivers. They are: 

• Employment exploration: Community-based services that help you explore employment. Exploration can help you think about whether or not you want to work in the community and what kind of work you want to do. Exploration might include things like talking to people at businesses in the community, watching someone while he or she works to see what his or her job is, doing the job along with another person just to see what it’s like and help understanding what happens to your benefits when you go to work. 
• Employment development: Services that help you find and get a job in the community or start your own business. Development might include things like help with your resume, finding a job that’s a good fit for you or setting up and going to job interviews. 
• Employment support: Services and supports that help you succeed in your job. The service might be for just you or you and a group of others. Support might include things like having someone help you learn your job, help you keep on task or make sure that you have the things you need to be successful in your job.

The new waiver employment services started July 1, 2018. 

If you are already getting employment services through a waiver, you may ask for the new employment services any time after July 1, 2018. Otherwise, they will change to the new services at your annual renewal after Sept. 1, 2018.

If you are not getting employment services through your waiver, tell your case manager you want to explore working or that you want to work and ask for the new services. 

If you’re already getting employment services through your waiver (supported employment services [SES], day training and habilitation [DT&H], or pre-vocational services), you will get the new service at your next annual renewal after Sept. 1, 2018. If you want the new employment services before your next renewal, talk to your case manager or employment service provider and tell them you want the new services sooner.

If you are not getting employment services through your waiver now and do nothing, everything will stay the same. If you decide you are interested in working, tell your case manager. If you are getting employment services through your waiver and don’t want a change, it’s OK to do nothing right now. At your next annual renewal (after Sept. 1, 2018), you’ll be asked about employment. The new employment services will be authorized, based on what you need at that time.

You can find more information by visiting:

• The waiver employment services flyer, New waiver services to support your choice to work! (PDF) (you can get this from your case manager, too)
• The Employment First webpage

There are a lot of resources about working. The Disability Hub MN Work page is a good place to start.

Not unless you want to. The new employment services do not limit your ability to participate in subminimum wage or work at a center. They just give you more options for working in the community. 

Minnesota must meet the requirements of federal rules to ensure that people with disabilities are not isolated in the settings where services are provided. This means that in future revisions of services (such as DT&H and prevocational services) DHS will need to decide how we can ensure these settings meet the requirements of the rule. These conversations and these changes will occur separately from the start of the new employment services.

Yes. If you don’t have an employment service provider or you want to change employment service providers, you can find enrolled providers for the new employment services through DHS Licensing Lookup. 

Many current day-services providers also provide employment services. Check with your current service provider to see if he or she will be offering the new employment services.

The good news is that you will almost always have more money when you work, even if your benefits change. You can do an Estimator session in DB101.org to see how work might affect your benefits. If you need more help understanding what will happen to your benefits when you work, contact the Disability Hub MN at 866-333-2466 or chat with a Hub expert at DisabilityHubMN.org or talk to your employment service provider.

If you have more questions, contact:

• Your case manager
• Your employment service provider, if you have one
• The Disability Hub MN at 866-333-2466, or chat with a Hub expert

If you need this information in a different format, contact the Department of Human Services at 651-431-2000 (TTY/TDD service: 800-627-3529) or through the Multilingual referral lines. Talk to your case manager or employment service provider about your translation or accessible communication needs.