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

Section 385.8- Page 9 Rev. 3/2022 the age of 6. For SNA non-MOE, OTDA has determined that the deeming provision also applies towards the 20-hour core requirement and towards the 35-hour weekly requirement. Assigning Activities above the Minimum: District staff should assign clients to work activities for more than the minimum number of hours necessary to count, up to the maximum 40 hours allowed, and consistent with the client assessment. Assigning clients to more than the minimum number of hours necessary for the activity to be countable increases local district ability to attain participation rates in the event that the client does not participate fully, as scheduled. This practice also prepares clients for meeting the expectations of full-time employment. Participation Rate Reporting: Timely and accurate data entry into the Welfare-To-Work Caseload Management System (WTWCMS) is critical for participation rates to be accurately calculated for official reporting purposes and depicted on the Participation Reports available through the Welfare Reporting Tracking System (WRTS), Cognos and the Commissioners’ Dashboard. Districts can maximize participation rates by: • choosing activities for the client that are countable whenever possible, cognizant of the plan for self-sufficiency; • assigning activities for sufficient hours to ensure countable status; • ensuring cases eligible for federal exclusions are properly coded as such; • properly employing payment type codes so that codes designating assistance are not used for situations that are not related to case ongoing needs; • monitoring data entered onto WTWCMS for accuracy by utilizing WRTS and COGNOS reports as well as WTWCMS listings to ensure that staff follows proper reporting protocol; • entering information on WTWCMS on a timely basis, soon after activities and actions take place, but no later than the 15th of the month following the report month. This will also ensure that accurate data is available in WRTS when reports are generated which typically occurs on the 15th. Job search and job readiness weekly enrollments, however, must be entered on WTWCMS during the week to be properly included on the WRTS tracking system. Vocational education enrollments must be entered during the actual month. The time limits for Job Search/job readiness weekly time limits and Vocational Education are explained below; and • conducting appropriate overrides in the WTRK43– PA TRACKING OVERRIDE INPUT screen when errors occur such as, when activities that contain a time limit maintained by tracking logic reported through WRTS (for further details please see section 385.16) are entered incorrectly into WTWCMS, Child caretaker months are incorrectly reported by an incorrect assignment of employability code 31 (Parent or Caretaker Relative of a Child in the Household Under 12 Months of Age/Exempt), or when sanction months track for an imposed sanction that must be removed due to a fair hearing result or other reason.