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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 7000 7500 Step 2 - Gross Income Eligibility 7523 Budgeting Earned Income

normal rate of pay by disregarding the earnings for the week or weeks in which the employee did not receive his normal rate of pay. The earnings for the weeks in which the employee did receive his normal pay will be averaged. The averaged amount will be multiplied by the appropriate conversion figure in order to anticipate a full month’s earnings. (See SNAP 7513 - 7513.3 for instructions on income conversion.) If the information on the remaining check stubs is not adequate to anticipate normal monthly income, the employer should be contacted for information about the employee’s normal working hours, rate of pay and expected changes in employment. Based on this information, it may be possible to anticipate the earned income. If the employer cannot or will not provide information about an employee’s normal rate of pay and/or hours worked, anticipated earnings will be based on the household’s statements about expected earnings. When paychecks include a one-time payment such as vacation pay or incentive pay, the one- time payment will be excluded when anticipating the employee’s pay for upcoming months. If vacation pay is received in a month included in an initial application period, the pay will be included in the budget for that month and then excluded when the budget for subsequent months is prepared. See SNAP 7522. Vacation pay received as a one-time payment after termination or lay off is considered to be a lump sum payment (see SNAP 5409). Incentive pay received on a regularly recurring basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) will be counted as income. Work incentive payments received upon completion of a job-training program are lump sum payments and, as such, totally excluded as income but counted as a resource. See SNAP 4950 for additional information. Annual bonuses included in weekly paychecks will be handled as specified in SNAP 5502. Bonuses paid at regularly recurring intervals throughout the year cannot be considered to be annual bonuses. If the month of receipt and amount of the bonus can be anticipated, these payments will be counted as earned income in the month received or prorated over the period of intended use. If an employee has received one bonus payment but does not know if he will be receiving another, the bonus will be considered a lump sum payment and excluded as income but will be considered a resource. See SNAP 4950. When income fluctuations are caused by variations in the number of hours worked, it must be determined if the employee’s earnings normally vary so drastically. If the household states or