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Persons engaged in hobbies or volunteer work or any other activity which cannot be considered gainful employment (because of the minimal amount of monies received from such activity) are not exempt from work registration regardless of the amount of time spent in such activity. Persons losing exemption status due to any change in circumstances (such as departure from the household of the sole dependent child for whom an otherwise non-exempt household member was caring) must be work registered when the change is reported. Mandatory FSET participants may be exempted from FSET participation if monthly expenses that are reasonable, necessary and directly related to participation exceed the allowable reimbursement amount (see Section 1.4: Work Participation Allowance in this Chapter). Group members who are applying for SSI and for FS (see Section 1.7.1: Applying for Food Stamp Benefits through the SSA in Part III) will have the requirement for work registration waived until their eligibility for SSI is determined. Failure to complete the work registration form is not grounds to delay processing. If they are determined ineligible for SSI, a determination of their work registration status must be made. Adult members of a group entitled to Expedited Food Stamp Processing (see Chapter 4: Expedited Food Stamp Services in Part III) are referred to FSET but cannot be sanctioned until a determination of standard FS eligibility is made. In addition, non-exempt group members do not have to work register prior to being determined eligible for expedited Food Stamp benefits.

GOOD CAUSE FOR NONCOMPLIANCE WITH WORK ACTIVITIES 1.7 BOTH An applicant/recipient will be sanctioned if s/he does not have good cause for failing to comply with work requirements. Good cause generally can be thought of as a short-term reason an employer might excuse an employee from work. If a recipient repeatedly has good cause, such as a recurring illness, the Department should determine whether the individual meets an exemption criteria (see Section 1.6: Exemptions from Work Requirements in this Chapter) or should be referred to POWER. Specific good cause reasons for both TANF and FS programs are listed below. TANF Determinations of good cause may be made by the vendor to whom the TANF recipient is assigned, the Office of Work Opportunity, and the ESA Vendor Monitoring unit. FS Determinations of good cause may be made by staff of the Food Stamp Employment and Training program. BOTH To determine whether or not good cause exists, the responsible party must consider the facts and circumstances, including information submitted by the group member who is involved, the employer, or the work-site supervisor. TANF When a non-exempt individual fails to participate in work activities, a sanction will be imposed, unless it is determined that the individual had good cause for not participating (see Section 3.10:6: Sanctions and Good Cause in Part VIII for a discussion of good cause in the POWER program). Good cause for failure to participate in work activities, assessment, and POWER program requirements or to sign the IRP include the following: