Archived Team Member Emergency Assistance Fund

[chocovine]

Hey Target TMs.

It's a long story, but I am a Hard Lines TM that has been with Target for a little over a year now. I've fallen on financial hardship (primary family members losing jobs, IRS involvement, etc) and now I am one of the few remaining members of my immediate family with a job at all. My wonderful HR Team Member recommended (and said she would gladly support) the Emergency Assistance Fund, but I am nervous.

Will how I spend this money be tracked? Will I have to include this when filing taxes? Will a big government official knock down my door and accuse me of fraud if it turns out that my use of the money and/or my reason for successfully acquiring the assistance fund money is inappropriate?

I know this sounds sketchy. I realize it sounds as though I'm going to use whatever sum I get to send my family to Disneyland, or buy a new TV. The truth of it is, I am young and my family is a very, very proud people, so the ways in which the money will help need to be kept secret; ie, I need to be able to remove it in cash and carefully plant it in the right purses and pockets to keep my family from knowing I've "stooped" to asking for assistance.

Nevermind that we may lose our home, what's important is our pride, right?
too long, didn't read; how closely is the assistance fund money tracked? will I have to provide a detailed history of how I spend the money, or what it is being used for? how does Target ensure that the right TMs get the right money? with someone from HR on your side, couldn't just about ANYONE get a quick $500 by giving a solid sob story on the application and getting it approved?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

You can get up to 500.00, if approved. It will be listed as a taxable item on your w2.
about the hardship fund:
Team member Emergency Assistance Fund aka hardship fund.
Talk to your ETL HR about it. You have to fill out a form, your ETL HR has to fill out another form, and they are both sent to TMSC. A group of people reviews your application, and, if you apply, they will put up to $500 into your paycheck. The HR team actually CANT deny you the form. The ETL HR -CAN- decide to NOT recommend you, for whatever reason.
By the way, this is a serious fund meant to help team members in emergency situations.

 

[LogisticsFox]

AFAIK, it comes to you just like a second check so I would assume that the taxes are already removed but I'm not entirely sure. The bottom line is that it IS income and you would need to pay taxes on it. It's likely Target will count that as part of your wages and it will be on your W2 anyway. I don't think that Target cares really how you spend that money, as long as you use it to keep your family off the streets. They just offer it in good faith that every TM won't use it to treat their family.

 

[chocovine]

@Hardlinesmaster
I actually found thebreakroom.org by googling for information on it, and saw that you were helpful in another thread about this! You said almost the exact same stuff. Thanks for the response.

I have talked to my ETL HR, as I said previously, and she agreed that all of my (very personal; that's why I'm not sharing here) reasons were valid, and that the worst they could do was deny me any funds. I realize that this is an emergency fund, and I do consider myself in a state of financial emergency; I just haven't been hit by natural disaster or family death. My question wasn't "what is the fund", rather, how does Target ensure that the right people are getting use of it? What's the protocol to ensure I am not simply falsifying my situation?

@LogisticsFox
That's an absolutely wonderful service. I guess I'm mostly worried because, again, I am fairly young to be requesting assistance when there hasn't been a veritable and total destruction of property, or the death of a loved one. It's nerve-wracking to have to keep something from my family, but my mother wouldn't even go on food stamps until I literally begged her, and it was a nightmare. She rolled off them as soon as she could and continues to look down on people who use them. It's kind of a huge shame, but I have special needs brothers who live with her and really need specialized care, or else I'd simply let her go broke on her own pride. That's why I'm so antsy about finding out where it is listed and who knows that I got funds: if I'm outed to my family, I don't know what's going to happen.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Spot is very picky on that. I have seen spot deny them in the past. I used a prior post, faster to post with exact details.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

From red wire. Effective 09/12/2015, emergency assistance fund will be discontinued. Spot will expand service under life resources.
1. Up to five in person visits, from 3.
2. Decreased co payment/ co insurance for tm's.

 

[Sickofspot]

Fingers crossed for you, @chocovine. I have seen so many applications denied. I really hope they help you.

 

[redeye58]

Discontinuing EAF?
Wow.
Expanding service under life resources?
Yeh, right.
I'd be curious to see how often it was used since its inception, particularly in the past fives years.
Spot continues the race to the bottom.

 

[Delidude]

I applied because of our water system breaking, and it was having an adverse affect on our water. It was denied, which I understand, I may apply again as a family member I live with lost their job, and i make enough to cover my bills. So many of the major bills like electricity and mortgage are up to them. Unemployment is very slow, so I may chat with my store manager to see what she says. Oh did I mention the transmission is shot in my car, so we have one car. I use it to get to work, so the other person cant go anywhere while I work.

@chocovine
I wish you luck, and I hope things improve for you and your family.

 

[commiecorvus]

From red wire. Effective 09/12/2015, emergency assistance fund will be discontinued. Spot will expand service under life resources.
1. Up to five in person visits, from 3.
2. Decreased co payment/ co insurance for tm's.

Fucking Spot.
Such a small thing but it was decent and supportive.
So of course they had to get rid of it.
Like it was somehow breaking the bank to help out their own people who were up against the wall.

 

[DoWork]

If it lowers copayments, I'm all for it. I doubt the fund was used that often, so regulating it definitely would have been a waste of time. While it was useful to some people, the majority didn't use it. They're simply redirecting resources to where they're used by more people.

That's if copayments actually go down. Currently, they're far too high for 'insurance.'

 

[JustJoe]

I had to use the fund last year after spending a week in the hospital to recoup lost wages (I was out two weeks and only had 4 days of sick and vacation combined). It's sad that they are getting rid of the fund.

What would be nice but would never happen is a way for us to donate vacation time into a pool for those in need. It happens in education when a teacher is out on extended unpaid leave. Of course the teachers are in most cases unionized. Most of you out there are probably thinking "That's my money, why would I give it away?" But if 20 TMs each offered one hour of their vacation balance to someone in need they would give the one in need 20 hours of pay. Think of it like the United Way campaign, but on an internal scale.

 

[commiecorvus]

I had to use the fund last year after spending a week in the hospital to recoup lost wages (I was out two weeks and only had 4 days of sick and vacation combined). It's sad that they are getting rid of the fund.

What would be nice but would never happen is a way for us to donate vacation time into a pool for those in need. It happens in education when a teacher is out on extended unpaid leave. Of course the teachers are in most cases unionized. Most of you out there are probably thinking "That's my money, why would I give it away?" But if 20 TMs each offered one hour of their vacation balance to someone in need they would give the one in need 20 hours of pay. Think of it like the United Way campaign, but on an internal scale.

The state employees union I belong to has a bank where people volunteer to donate one 8 hour block of vacation time to per year, if it's needed.
Some years they don't even take it because there is plenty.
But if you have to take time off because your kid needs a bone marrow transplant (or whatever) and you've used up all your time, it's there for you.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I had to use the fund last year after spending a week in the hospital to recoup lost wages (I was out two weeks and only had 4 days of sick and vacation combined). It's sad that they are getting rid of the fund.

Your hr should of mentioned the short term disability that spot gives you for free. It would of given you, 60% of your pay for 2 weeks you were out.