704 Failure to Comply

A. Failure to Comply with Food Assistance Work Requirements When the county department learns a household member has failed to comply with the work requirements outlined in Section 703, the county department must take action to disqualify that individual. The county department must issue a notice of adverse action which advises the household of the following: 1. The act of noncompliance. 2. The minimum period of disqualification. 3. The actions which may be taken to end the disqualification after serving the minimum disqualification period. Fair Hearing Each individual has a right to appeal a denial, reduction, or termination of benefits due to a determination of nonexempt status or failure to comply with a work registration or employment and training program requirement. Individuals may appeal county department actions such as: 1. Non-exemption status. 2. Type of work registration requirement imposed. 3. County department’s finding of “without good cause”. The county department or representative from the employment and training program or the Employment Service shall receive sufficient advance notice to either permit the attendance of a representative or ensure that a representative will be available for questioning over the phone during the hearing. A representative of the appropriate agency shall be available through one of these means. A household shall be allowed to examine its employment component case file at a reasonable time before the date of the fair hearing, except for confidential information (which may include test results) that the appropriate agency determines should be protected from release. Information not released to a household may not be used by either party at the hearing. The results of the fair hearing shall be binding on the county department. B. Failure to Comply with Unemployment Compensation Work Registration Requirement When a household member, whose only exemption from work registration is because that individual is subject to the work registration requirements associated with the application for and receipt of Unemployment Compensation Benefits, fails without good cause to comply with a UCB work registration requirement, such failure to comply shall be treated in the same manner as noncompliance with food assistance work requirements. Within 10 days of learning of such a noncompliance, the policies in Section 704(D) shall be followed to disqualify the individual. C. Failure to Comply with a Jobs Program Requirement When a household member, whose only exemption from work registration is because that individual is subject to and complying with the requirements of the JOBS Program, fails without good cause to comply with a JOBS requirement, such failure to comply shall be treated in the same manner as noncompliance with food assistance work requirements. Within 10 days of learning of such noncompliance, the policies in Section 704(D) shall be followed to disqualify the individual. If the noncompliant household member loses the ability to comply with the requirements of the JOBS Program, the individual may again be determined eligible to participate in the Food Assistance Program at the point that it is determined that the ability to comply no longer exists, or at the end of the appropriate minimum disqualification period, whichever is later. If the inability to comply is for reasons other than ineligibility for Family Assistance, it is the JOBS worker who makes the determination that the individual no longer has the ability to comply. D. Disqualification Disqualification periods for failure to comply with the provisions of this chapter will be imposed as follows: For the first violation or failure without good cause, the noncompliant individual shall be disqualified for one month or until compliance, whichever is later, unless the individual becomes exempt from work registration during the disqualification period. The second violation or failure without good cause, the noncompliant individual shall be disqualified for three months or until compliance, whichever is later, unless the individual becomes exempt from work registration during the disqualification period. For the third or subsequent violation or failure without good cause, the noncompliant individual shall be disqualified for six months or until compliance, whichever is later, unless the individual becomes exempt from work registration during the disqualification period. If an individual has failed to comply at the end of the minimum disqualification period, the disqualification shall continue until the individual complies, unless the individual becomes exempt from work registration or loses the ability to comply. Compliance with Food Assistance E&T, Employment Service, JOBS or UCB requirements is determined by the appropriate worker in that area. The food assistance worker must determine compliance as follows: For refusal to accept a bona fide offer of suitable employment, the household member must accept the employment if still available to him/her or secure other employment which either yields earnings equivalent to the earnings offered on the refused job or is for at least 30 hours per week. Refer to Section 708 for good cause determination to be made by the eligibility/certification worker. 1. Imposing the Disqualification Period: An individual will be disqualified effective the month following the expiration of the notice of adverse action or, effective the month following the date the hearing decision can be placed into effect if the household appeals and elects to have benefits continued and subsequently loses the appeal. An individual, who complies after the notice of adverse action, is issued but before the effective date of the disqualification period, will not be disqualified. The household will be notified that the proposed action was cured by the compliance. This noncompliance is not counted in determining the number of occurrences of noncompliance for the purpose of establishing the appropriate disqualification period based on the number of violations. Applicant households containing a member who failed to comply shall have the appropriate disqualification period applied to that individual at the time of application disposition. a) The disqualification period shall be imposed and the household notified even if the application is denied for another reason. b) A notice of adverse action is not required before disqualifying an individual at recertification if the disqualification period will begin the first month of the new certification period. c) If the noncompliance occurs during the application processing timeframe, but the worker does not receive notification until after approval, the household shall be considered a participating household when imposing the disqualification. The disqualification period is imposed on an individual even if the household is not certified at the time the notice of noncompliance is received, if the noncompliance occurred during a time the individual was certified. In this situation, the household will be notified that a disqualification is being imposed. The disqualification follows the household member if he moves from one household to another within the county or from one E&T county to another. If the disqualified member moves from an E&T county to a non E&T county and loses the ability to comply, the individual may again be determined eligible to participate at the point it is determined that the ability to comply no longer exists, or at the end of the minimum disqualification period, whichever is later. The income and resources of a disqualified household member are treated in accordance with the policy found in Section 1102. 2. Delays in Imposing the Disqualification Period: If the worker does not take timely action to impose the disqualification penalty, the following procedures shall be followed. a) If it had been previously determined that the failure to comply was without good cause, but no notice of adverse action had been sent, the worker shall send the notice of adverse action within 10 calendar days of discovering this error. b) If a good cause determination has never been made, the county shall determine whether good cause for the noncompliance exists. The worker shall send the notice of adverse action within 10 days of determining the noncompliance was without good cause. The disqualification period shall begin with the first month following the expiration of the notice period, unless a fair hearing is requested, and shall continue for the appropriate period, or until compliance, whichever is later. The disqualification, although delayed, shall continue to be imposed whether or not the disqualified individual is certified during the disqualification period. 3. Re-establishing Eligibility: The county department shall add a disqualified household member back into the food assistance budget the month following notification of compliance, the month following the determination of work registration exemption, or the month following the end of the minimum disqualification period. The household does not have to be contacted prior to adding the member back into the food assistance household as an eligible member, unless there are questions about the disqualified member’s continuing eligibility requiring a contact with the household to clear up questionable information. If the disqualified individual was the only household member and the case was denied or terminated at disqualification, reapplication is required. A disqualified member shall be removed from the household when it is determined that he/she is no longer residing with the household.