5101:9-7-23. Child support random moment sample time study

(A) The child support random moment sample (CSRMS) time study is designed to measure the activity of county child support enforcement agency (CSEA) staff related to child support program activities.

(1) Data collected from the time study are used to calculate allocation statistics used to distribute cost pool expenditures to the appropriate programs. The percentages are used by the CSEA to distribute administrative funds reported in accordance with rule 5101:9-7-29 of the Administrative Code.

(2) The CSRMS sampling period offsets the financial reporting quarter by one month as follows:

(a) First period: December, January, February for the January through March reporting quarter;

(b) Second period: March, April, May for the April through June reporting quarter;

(c) Third period: June, July, August for the July through September reporting quarter; and

(d) Fourth period: September, October, November for the October through December reporting quarter.

(B) For purposes of this rule, CSEA shall be defined as any county CSEA organizational structure outlined in rule 5101:9-1-16 of the Administrative Code. The income maintenance, workforce, social services, and child welfare random moment sample (RMS) time studies are described in rule 5101:9-7-20 of the Administrative Code.

(C) Employees engaged in directly related CSEA functions shall participate in the CSRMS time study and cannot participate in more than one type of time study, i.e., income maintenance, workforce, social services, or child welfare random moment sample.

Categories of positions generally excluded from the time study are:

(1) Administrative.

(2) Supervisory.

A CSEA may add a supervisor to the roster if the supervisor is providing direct services more than fifty per cent of the time. The CSEA shall retain documentation to support the inclusion of the position in the time study. The documentation shall include a copy of the position description signed by the current CSEA head. The CSEA is not required to maintain separate documentation if the position description includes, at a minimum:

(a) The directly related program activities or description of the direct services provided by the position; and

(b) The portion of time spent by the position on the program activities.

(3) Administrative support.

A CSEA may add an employee assigned to an administrative support position to the roster if the administrative support position provides direct services more than fifty per cent of the time. The CSEA shall retain documentation to support the inclusion of the position in the time study. The documentation shall include a copy of the position description signed by the current CSEA head. The CSEA is not required to maintain separate documentation if the position description includes, at a minimum:

(a) The directly related program activities or description of the direct services provided by the position; and

(b) The portion of time spent by the position on the program activities.

(D) Roster completion.

A CSRMS coordinator must be assigned to administer the time study. The CSEA must also select at least one alternate to complete the CSRMS process in the coordinator's absence. Additional alternates may be needed based on the location of the sample population, the sample size, available staff time, and/or other pertinent factors. The CSRMS coordinator may also be the coordinator for the random moment time studies detailed in rule 5101:9-7-20 of the Administrative Code.

(1) Coordinator and alternate(s) responsibilities include reviewing and maintaining the CSRMS roster in the webRMS system. The employee roster shall include, at a minimum:

(a) Position number: a unique identifier for each position to be used in the CSRMS.

(b) Employee name: the person filling the position.

(c) Position title: the CSEA has the option of including the classification title or position title.

(d) Staff work schedule: the actual employee work schedule is used.

(e) E-mail addresses: the e-mail address of the employee and the employee's supervisor.

(2) The CSRMS coordinator shall not include vacant positions on the CSRMS roster. If the vacancy is expected to remain unfilled through the majority of the next CSRMS observation period, the CSRMS coordinator shall remove the position from the CSRMS roster. Once the vacancy has been filled, the position shall be added back to the CSRMS roster by the CSRMS coordinator.

(3) CSRMS coordinators shall complete all rosters in webRMS no later than five business days before the CSRMS sampling period begins.

(4) The Ohio department of job and family services (ODJFS) approves the sample for the period by using the sample set submitted by the CSRMS coordinator in webRMS.

(E) Observation completion.

(1) Roster members (employees) will receive an e-mail from webRMS with a link to the random moment sample at the time of the observation moment.

(2) The employee clicks on the webRMS link included in the e-mail to access the observation moment.

(a) The employee selects the appropriate program and activity code.

(b) The employee is required to complete the comment section. Comments must demonstrate that the program and activity codes support the work being performed by the assigned position at the time of the observation.

(i) An employee working on a case must include a case number or other unique identifier establishing case/client identity.

(ii) An employee not working on a case enters comments. The employee must ensure that adequate backup documentation is available to verify the activity being performed.

(iii) An employee attending a meeting or training at the time of the observation moment must enter the title/subject, location, and facilitator.

(iv) An employee on break, at lunch, on leave, or on personal business at the time of the observation must indicate the position was idle.

(3) An employee receiving an observation moment will have forty-eight hours to respond, not including weekends or holidays.

(a) WebRMS generates a reminder e-mail notice to the employee and the employee's supervisor twelve hours after the moment has passed if the employee has not responded to the moment.

(b) WebRMS generates an additional reminder e-mail notice to the employee, the employee's supervisor, and CSRMS coordinator thirty-six hours after the moment has passed if the employee has not responded to the moment.

(c) If an employee fails to respond within the forty-eight-hour period, the observation moment will expire and webRMS will not permit the employee to respond.

(4) The CSRMS coordinator may select an alternate response option upon notification by the employee or the employee's supervisor that the employee is unable to respond to the observation moment via e-mail within the forty-eight-hour observation period. The CSRMS coordinator shall note the reason for the substitution and on behalf of the employee document the response in the comments section.

(F) Observation moment expiration.

(1) An observation moment expires when there is no response. Expired moments may occur for the following:

(a) A position currently in the time study is idle due to a short-term absence when the observation moment occurs and the position is not reassigned to an employee who is not currently in the time study;

(b) A position is idle due to a vacancy and the position is not reassigned to an employee not currently in the time study; or

(c) An employee fails to respond to an observation moment within the forty-eight-hour response period.

(2) Once a moment expires, it becomes an invalid response and costs associated with that moment are distributed by the statistics derived from the valid responses.

(3) In accordance with federally accepted timelines, the CSRMS coordinator shall review and approve by accepting all observation moment responses within seventy-two hours.

(G) Number of observations.

(1) For each CSEA with more than ten participating positions, the sample size per reporting period is a minimum of three hundred fifty-four total observations.

(2) A CSEA with ten or fewer participating positions must complete a minimum of thirty-three observations per participating position.

(3) The CSEA conducting the CSRMS may opt to produce more than the minimum observations per employee, to a maximum of five thousand total observations. A CSEA electing to sample more than the minimum number of observations per period must request the desired number of samples in webRMS. Once the extra moments are approved by ODJFS, they must be completed for that period.

(H) Quality assurance.

To assure sampling accuracy and quality control, for each sampling period, ten per cent of all CSRMS observations are systematically selected from the total RMS observations and are known as control observations.

Supervisors will validate at least forty per cent of the control observations for each sampling period.

(1) For the purposes of the RMS time study, a supervisor is:

(a) Identified for each roster position as stated in paragraph (D)(1)(e) of this rule, and;

(b) To have sufficient knowledge of the programs and activities performed by the employee(s) to determine the accuracy of the response.

(2) The supervisor is responsible for validation of responses within the same forty-eight-hour response period that is available to the employee.

(3) By approving the response, the supervisor is verifying that the appropriate program and activity was selected.

(4) After the supervisor approves the response, the RMS coordinator will accept the response within the time frame allotted as stated in paragraph (F)(3) of this rule.

(I) Absences and vacancies.

(1) For the purposes of the CSRMS time study:

(a) A position is idle due to an absence when the employee assigned to that position is on paid or unpaid leave but intends to return to work in the future.

(b) A position is idle due to a vacancy when the employee assigned to the position has left the position and does not intend to return. This includes situations in which an employee is promoted, demoted, transferred to another position, or is separated from the CSEA.

(2) If a position is idle due to an absence or vacancy, the CSRMS coordinator may:

(a) Assign the position's duties to another employee or supervisor not currently in the time study. The CSRMS coordinator shall reassign the position to the new name and e-mail address of the employee or supervisor. The newly assigned employee or supervisor will receive the remaining notifications for the observation moments for the position in the sample quarter.

(b) Assign the position's duties to an employee currently in the time study and the employee is also fulfilling his or her originally assigned duties. The position is still idle. The employee will only receive and respond to observation moments for his or her originally assigned position.

(c) Assign the position's duties to another employee currently in the time study but the employee is no longer fulfilling his or her originally assigned duties. The employee will begin to receive and complete the observation moments assigned to the new position. The CSRMS coordinator will remove the employee's name and e-mail address from the employee's former position in webRMS, creating a vacancy in the employee's former position.

(d) Under no circumstances may an employee complete an observation moment for more than one position.

(J) The CSRMS coordinator must approve the CSRMS for the reporting period in webRMS within five working days after the last moment has expired.

(K) The CSEA shall retain documentation in accordance with the records retention requirements in rule 5101:9-9-21 of the Administrative Code.

(L) ODJFS maintains RMS coding information in webRMS and on the ODJFS website.

Effective: 3/23/2020
Five Year Review (FYR) Dates: 1/7/2020 and 03/23/2025
Promulgated Under: 119.03
Statutory Authority: 3125.25
Rule Amplifies: 3125.25
Prior Effective Dates: 12/01/1987, 06/10/1988, 09/01/1988, 06/09/1989, 09/01/1989, 06/01/1990, 04/01/1992, 01/01/1993, 07/01/1993, 06/21/1996, 07/01/1996, 01/01/1998, 09/01/1998, 02/01/1999, 03/19/2007, 04/11/2008, 06/17/2010, 08/29/2011, 12/29/2011, 10/31/2016