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1000.2 TANF MANUAL 10/18 PAGE 14a

• unavailability of the scheduled placement site due to closures for holidays not included in the list of the ten holidays specified by federal requirements • unavailability of the scheduled placement site due to closures due to weather or natural disasters • illness or medical need of the participant or family member residing in the home • interruptions in child care arrangements • domestic violence issues • transportation problems or auto accident funeral or death of a family member

For clients who have not participated in VIEW in the past, the 12- month period begins the month after the APR is signed. For current VIEW clients, or former VIEW clients returning to the program, the 12-month period includes the current month and the preceding 11 months. No more than 16 hours of excused absences may be approved in any month. In order for the excused absence to be considered as actual hours of participation, the client must have been scheduled to participate in the activity for that time period. The decision to consider an absence as excused and to include it in determining actual hours of participation will be made by the local agency within the limitations described above.

Example 1: Mr. A signed the initial APR on October 16, 2017 and was assigned to a job readiness workshop for the period October 23, 2017 – November 30, 2017. In November, he missed 18 hours of job readiness class, 16 hours of which were counted as excused absences. Beginning December 1, he was placed in a PSP position with the Extension Service. During his 6-month placement, he had absences of 8 hours in December, 23 hours in January, 8 hours in February, 19 hours in March, 16 hours in April, and 16 hours in May. Because his countable excused absences from November through April totaled 80 hours, neither the May absences nor absences for other months in the 12-month period (November 2017, the month after he signed the APR, through October 2018) can be counted as participation. The first month in which excused absences can again be counted as participation is November 2018. At that time, the preceding 12-month period is November 2018 back through December 2017 and the 16 hours of excused absences counted for November 2017 are no longer included in the 80-hour allowable maximum.

See completed Holidays and Excused Absences for Participants in Unpaid Activities form for Example 1: https://fusion.dss.virginia.gov/Portals/%5Bbp%5D/Files/holidays_and_excused_absences_example1.pdf

Example 2: Ms. B was enrolled in VIEW from February 2017 until December 2017 when she moved to New York. Ms. B had excused absences of 16 hours for October 2017, 16 hours for November 2017, and 16 hours for December 2017. Ms. B returned to Virginia in April 2018 and reapplied for TANF. She was approved for TANF and was referred to VIEW effective April 2018. She signed a new APR April 5, 2018 and was assigned to a Work Experience placement effective June 2018. (See 1000.4.C for reasons for exemption from initial job search). Ms. B had excused absences of 16 hours for June 2018 and 16 hours for July 2018. She also missed 20 hours for August 2018 but those hours could not be counted toward participation since Ms. B had already used the maximum 80 hours of excused absences in the period August 2018, back through September 2017.

In September 2018, Ms. B will still have used a maximum 80 hours within the previous 12 months (September 2018 back through October 2017). In October 2018, 64 hours will have been used (October 2018 back through November 2017; the October 2017 hours are no longer counted) and up to 16 hours of excused absences are available for that month.

Ms. B misses 3 hours in October which are counted for a total of 67 hours in the 12-month period. In November 2018, 51of the maximum 80 hours will have been used in the 12-month period (November 2018 back through December 2017; the November 2017 hours are no longer counted.) Ms. B has 30 hours of absences for that month; 16 hours, the maximum for one month, can be counted. For the November 2018 back to the December 2017 12-month period, absences will again total 67 hours.

See completed Holidays and Excused Absences for Participants in Unpaid Activities form for Example 2: https://fusion.dss.virginia.gov/Portals/%5Bbp%5D/Files/holidays_and_excused_absences_example2.pdf

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