12.11 Suitable Employment.

A. Employment will be considered suitable unless: 1. The wage offered is less than the highest of the applicable Federal minimum wage, the applicable State minimum wage or 80% of the Federal minimum wage if neither the Federal nor the State minimum wage is applicable. 2. The employment is offered on a piece-rate basis (the worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each item produced regardless of the time involved) and the average hourly yield the employee can reasonably be expected to earn is less than the applicable hourly wages as specified above. 3. The household member, as a condition of employment or continuing employment, must join, resign from or refrain from joining any legitimate labor organization. 4. The work offered is at a site subject to a strike or lockout at the time of the offer unless the strike has been enjoined under the Taft-Hartley Act or unless an injunction has been issued under section 10 of the Railway Labor Act. B. All other employment will be considered suitable unless the household member involved can demonstrate that: 1. The risk to health and safety is unreasonable; 2. The member is physically or mentally unfit to perform the employment as documented by medical evidence or reliable information from other sources; 3. The employment offered within the first 30 days of registration is not in the member’s major field of experience; 4. The distance from the member’s home to the place of employment is unreasonable considering the expected wage and time and cost of commuting; or a) If daily commuting time exceeds 2 hours per day, not including transporting a child to and from a childcare facility, then it will be considered unsuitable. b) If the distance to the place of employment prevents walking and there is no public or private transportation available to transport the individual to the jobsite, then it will also be considered unsuitable. 5. The working hours or nature of employment interferes with the member’s religious observance, convictions or beliefs. Source: 7 CFR §273.7(h) Revised: March 2022