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NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance- TA and SNAP Employment Policy Manual

Section 385.2 – Page 29

Rev. 4/2025 Good Cause Considerations Districts must consider the individual’s limitations and abilities when determining whether or not noncompliance was willful and without good cause. It may be appropriate to first determine if the individual’s condition has precipitated the noncompliance. In those instances when a recipient is receiving services from a mental health professional, substance abuse counselor or other similar professional, it may be appropriate to have the professional intervene to determine the reason for noncompliance and/or to facilitate re-engagement. When determining whether noncompliance with a treatment requirement occurred without good cause, the district must consider whether or not continued treatment is appropriate as a work assignment, in particular if the individual is successfully participating with all other work assignments. When determining whether noncompliance occurred without good cause for those individuals who chose to participate without accommodation, in lieu of cooperating with efforts to identify a suspected disability (voluntary disclosure procedure), the district should consider whether the suspected impairment may have contributed to the failure and address the suspected impairment again with the individual. If the district feels the individual’s suspected impairment contributed to the failure, and the individual now agrees to cooperate with the disability review procedure requirements, the district may consider the individual to have had good cause for the failure. Separate SNAP Determination When an TA/SNAP applicant or recipient individual fails to comply with the requirement to provide verification of a claimed exemption from SNAP work requirements, a separate determination regarding ongoing eligibility for SNAP benefits must be made. See Section 385.3, Section 385.12 and Section 385.13 of this manual for additional information regarding SNAP work requirements. Engaged-in-Work Requirement Districts are responsible for making sure recipients of TA are “engaged in work” within the following specified time periods: • A parent or caretaker of a dependent child receiving federally funded TA Family Assistance or TANF-funded Safety Net Assistance) must be engaged in work as soon as practicable, no later than 24 months from the date the individual first receives federally funded TA. The 24- month period includes non-consecutive months of assistance and does not include any assistance received before December 2, 1996.