Judge Forces Alameda County to Reinstate Welfare Benefits

About three thousand local General Assistance recipients caught a break yesterday, when Superior Court Judge David Hunter ruled that Alameda County can’t cut off benefits unless the clients have a minimal chance of being employable. According to the Chron, Hunter claimed that the county’s Social Services Agency must take into account age, language fluency, and other factors when determining whether recipients are employable. This obvious comes at a bad time for the county’s budget, which is already strained by the economic downturn.