Page 17

NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance- TA and SNAP Employment Policy Manual Section 385.3 - Page 17 Rev. 4/2025 not limited to: dependent care costs, transportation, or other work, training or education related expenses such as uniforms, personal safety items or necessary equipment and books or training manuals. If a district is unable to provide a participant with participant reimbursements, then the individual would be excused from mandatory participation in SNAP E&T and would not be subject to a SNAP sanction for failure to comply with the assigned SNAP E&T activity. Specific information regarding SNAP participant reimbursements is found in Section 385.4 of this manual. Job Retention Services The job retention component of SNAP E&T is meant to provide supportive services for a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of up to 90 days to individuals who have secured employment. Job retention services are designed to help individuals achieve satisfactory performance, retain employment, and to increase earnings over time. To qualify for SNAP E&T funded job retention services the recipient who is employed must have participated in another SNAP E&T activity within 90 days prior to starting employment. Districts may offer job retention services, such as case management, job coaching, dependent care assistance and transportation assistance, for up to 90 days to an individual who secured employment. Districts that offer job retention as a SNAP E&T component must make a good faith effort to provide job retention services for a minimum of 30 days. Good faith efforts may include informing participants receiving job retention services of the 30-day minimum requirement, developing a job retention case management plan that extends for at least 30 days, and continuing to conduct outreach to the individual for at least 30 days, but not more than 90 days following the date the employment started. As a best practice, districts should document that a reasonable effort was made for each job retention participant. Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) Federal statute and regulations limit an ABAWD’s eligibility for SNAP benefits to 3 months in a 36-month period, unless the individual resides in an area that has a federally approved ABAWD waiver; the ABAWD is granted an exclusion from the ABAWD requirement for the calendar month consistent with the exclusion policy established by the district; or, is meeting the ABAWD requirement each month. Identifying ABAWDs ABAWDs are individuals who are subject to general SNAP work requirements and meet certain additional criteria. All individuals who are exempt from general SNAP work requirements are also exempt from ABAWD requirements. An individual who is exempt from the ABAWD requirement is not necessarily exempt from the general SNAP work requirements, including participation in SNAP E&T. In addition to those individuals exempt from the general SNAP work requirements, other groups of individuals are also exempt from ABAWD requirements as discussed below.