Page 20

1000.2 TANF MANUAL 10/18 PAGE 14b

Example 3: Ms. A is scheduled to participate in community work experience for 6 hours each day, Monday through Friday. She is placed in the local school library. The library was closed on Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. Christmas day is one of the ten holidays that can be included in the calculation of actual hours. The day after Christmas cannot be counted as a holiday. Since Ms. A has only one previous excused absence for 4 hours in December, and since her excused absences total only 30 hours in the preceding 12-month period, the 6 hours for the day after Christmas when the placement site was not available can be included in the calculation of actual hours as an excused absence.

Example 4: Ms. B is participating in CNA classes that meet 6 hours each day. Ms. B’s grandfather passed away in New York on May 26th, a Friday. Ms. B left for New York that weekend, and missed the entire next week - May 29th, May 30th, May 31st, June 1st, and June 2nd – a total of 30 hours. Since she had not had any previous absences from the program in May, and no excused absences in the preceding 12-month period, 16 of the 18 hours she missed on 5/29, 5/30, and 5/31 can be counted as excused absences. Both June absences, 6/1 and 6/2, totaling 12 hours, can be counted as excused and counted as actual participation.

Example 5: Continuing with Example 4, Ms. B had to return to New York the last week in June to help with her grandfather’s estate. She attended class on Monday and Tuesday, the 26th and 27th, but was absent on the 28th, 29th, and 30th, , a total of 18 hours. Since she had used 12 hours of excused absences for the month of June when she went to New York the first time, only 4 hours of the 18 hours from her second visit to New York can be counted as an excused absence.

Example 6: Mrs. C was working at the Guy Noir Detective Agency. She earns 6 days of paid sick leave a year, but had used them by November when she was out of work for a week with the flu. Since she had already used all her leave, she was not paid for those five days, totaling 40 hours, even though her boss sympathized with her situation. None of the 40 hours can count as actual hours of participation. (Only hours of paid employment, including paid vacations, paid sick leave, and paid holidays can count as actual hours for clients who are working or are in OJT).

Unpaid activities - individual job search: It is the responsibility of the participant to record actual hours for each job contact listed on the Job Search form. Actual hours include travel time between interviews. Actual hours do not include travel time to the first interview or from the last interview. Questionable contact information will be verified by the agency with the employer. If travel time incorporated into actual hours reported appears questionable, verify the expected travel time through MapQuest or a similar site. Only actual hours reported (and verified, if questionable) can be counted in determining participation.

Since individual job search does not have to be conducted within a fixed daily schedule, and can be scheduled around holidays and other appointments, holiday closures and excused absences cannot be considered in determining actual hours of participation.

Case Documentation: The case must be thoroughly documented by completing the Participation Timesheet- Details screen in the ESP module of the VaCMS and the Holidays and Excused Absences for Participants in Unpaid Activities form (032-03-0106) whenever holidays or excused absences are counted as actual hours of participation for unpaid activities.

Transmittal 65