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Page | 18 13.3 Work Participation Requirements for Work Eligible Individuals (WEI)

Hawaii requires a parent or specified relative, who is determined to be a WEI and receives assistance, to engage in employment or work activities through the FTW program. An individual’s work program status is determined at the point of application, reassessed at their annual recertification, and when the individual's circumstance has changed. Individuals who are determined to be WEIs are referred immediately to the FTW program.

13.4 Work Participation Requirements for Other Work Eligible Individuals with a Disability (OWEI)

13.4.1 Work eligible individuals, who claim they are unable to work due to substance use disorder, or a physical or mental disability, are referred to contracted examiners for an assessment and a medical evaluation board for a determination whether the disability prevents the individual from working thirty (30) hours a week. If the medical evaluation board determines an individual to be temporarily incapacitated and unable to work, the individual’s work participation status is changed from WEI to other work eligible individual or OWEI, and is referred to the FTW Vocational Rehabilitation (FTW-VR) unit. The FTW-VR units provide case management services; monitor the OWEI’s compliance to a treatment or individualized service plan; and provide job preparation services. The work participation status is reviewed at the point of application, reassessed at their annual recertification, and whenever the individual's circumstances have changed.

13.4.2 An individual, who the Department has determined disabled due to a physical or mental impairment, including substance abuse, must engage in treatment services and vocational rehabilitation activities that may reasonably be expected to lead to employment (see subsections ).

13.5 Penalty for Non-Compliance

When a TANF recipient, who is a work eligible individual or other work eligible individual and is required to participate in the FTW program, does not comply without good cause to participate in the FTW program; refuses without good cause to accept full-time employment; terminates full-time employment without good cause; reduces full-time employment to less than thirty (30) hours per week without good cause; or does not comply with their treatment plan for a recipient who was determined disabled or recovering from substance use disorder, the entire household’s TANF benefits are terminated (i.e. case closure) and a sanction is imposed as follows:

A. For the first (1st) sanction, the household is ineligible for TANF until the household reapplies for benefits.