9017 Strikers

[273.1(g)] Households with striking members will be ineligible to participate in the Food Stamp Program unless the household was eligible for benefits the day prior to the strike and is otherwise eligible at the time of application. Such a household will not receive an increased allotment as the result of a decrease in the income of the striking member(s) of the household. For food stamp purposes, a striker will be anyone involved in a strike or concerted stoppage of work by employees (including a stoppage by reason of the expiration of a collective- bargaining agreement) and any concerted slowdown or other concerted interruption of operations by employees. Any employee affected by a lockout, however, will not be deemed to be a striker. Examples of non-strikers who are eligible for participation in the program include but are not limited to: 1. Employees whose workplace is closed by an employer in order to resist demands of employees (e.g., a lockout); 2. Employees unable to work as a result of striking employees (e.g., truck drivers who are not working because striking newspaper pressmen prevent newspapers from being printed); and 3. Employees who are not part of the bargaining unit on strike who did not want to cross a picket due to fear of personal injury or death. Further, an individual who goes on strike who is exempt from work registration, in accordance with DSSM 9018, the day prior to the strike, other than those exempt solely on the grounds that they are employed, will not be deemed a striker. Pre-strike eligibility will be determined by considering the day prior to the strike as the day of application and assuming the strike did not occur. Eligibility at time of application will be determined by comparing the striking member's income before the strike to the striker's current income and adding the higher of the two to the current income of non-striking members during the month of application. To determine benefits (and eligibility for households subject to the net income eligibility standard) deductions will be calculated for the month of application as for any other household. Whether the striker's pre-strike earnings are used or his current income is used, the earnings deduction will be allowed if appropriate. Strikers whose households are eligible to participate under the criteria in this section will be subject to the work registration requirements under DSSM 9018 unless exempt under DSSM 9018.2.