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ESA SNAP Policy Manual 158 Example Ms. Weiss earns $15.15 an hour and usually works 40 hours a week. She is paid every other Friday. Her last three gross pay amounts (from the month prior to the month of application) were $606, $570.70 and $712.05. Ms. Weiss has submitted a signed statement from her employer to verify that her hours will be reduced to 35 hours per week effective the first day of the next month. When determining Ms. Weiss’s income for the month of application when she was still working 40 hours per week, use her expected gross pay for the month of application. If she expects to work 40 hours during the month of application and does not expect to work overtime, assume that she will earn $606 per paycheck. Determine her eligibility for the month of application based on her expected monthly income in that month. When determining the household’s eligibility for future months, use her anticipated earnings based on working 35 hours a week to determine the household’s prospective income ($15.15 x 35 = $530.25).

13.3.2 Income Only in Month Received Once anticipated income is converted to a monthly amount (see Section 13.3.1, Anticipated Income), the monthly amount will be attributed to each month of the certification period in which the household anticipates to receive the income, unless the income is being averaged (see Section 13.3.3, Income Averaging).  Wages held at the request of the employee will be considered income to the household in the month the wages would otherwise have been paid by the employer.  Wages held by the employer as a general practice, even if in violation of law, will not be counted as income to the household unless the household anticipates it will ask for and receive an advance or receive income from wages that were previously held by the employer as a general practice and that were, therefore, not previously counted as income by ESA.  Advances on wages will count as income in the month received only if reasonably anticipated, as defined in Section 13.3.1, Anticipated Income.  Households receiving income on a recurring monthly or semimonthly basis will not have their monthly income varied merely because of changes in mailing cycles or pay dates or because weekends or holidays cause additional payments to be received in a month.  Nonrecurring lump sum payments will be counted as a resource starting in the month received and will not be counted as income. 13.3.3 Income Averaging  Although ESA uses income received during the past 30 days as an indicator of the income that is and will be available to the household during the certification period, if changes in income have occurred or can be anticipated, ESA will not use past income.  If income fluctuates between months to the extent that a 30-day period alone cannot provide an accurate indication of anticipated income, ESA and the household may use a longer period of Return