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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 14

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 23 Chapter 14 Work Requirements

14.7 WV WORKS EXEMPTIONS The following are exemptions from meeting the work requirement. This does not automatically exempt appropriate individuals from the 60-month, or 24-month time limits described in Sections 18.2 and 18.8. Individuals exempt from the work requirement may participate voluntarily. See Sections 1.5 and 3.21. However, no sanction is applied for failure to do so. The Case Manager must place participants who choose to participate in the appropriate work components, as well as the applicable exemption component. • Undocumented aliens and aliens under the five-year ban This includes those aliens who are ineligible to receive assistance due to their immigration status and those who do not meet the necessary time requirements for living in this country; • Parents, stepparents, or caretaker relatives receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) These individuals must be offered an opportunity to participate, if they so choose; • Care for a disabled family member (TW) A participant who is providing medically necessary care for a disabled family member who resides in the home. Medical documentation must be provided to support the need for the participant to remain in the home to care for the disabled family member. See Chapter 18. Only one participant in the assistance group (AG) at a time can be temporarily exempt for this reason. The Case Manager must review this documentation at least once quarterly and it must be verified by a doctor’s statement. This care cannot be counted as participation hours under any activity. When medical documentation is obtained that the family member is no longer disabled, the exemption ends, and the participant becomes a Work-Eligible Individual and must be assigned to a countable NOTE: WV WORKS participants who have a documented disability must be placed in the “Participant with a Documented Disability” (AD) component in the case management system, in addition to other component codes. NOTE: Because the time limit applies to participants in this component, the family should be encouraged to make other care arrangements. This includes an application for Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver (ADW), Intellectual Development Disabilities (I/DD) Waiver or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Waiver services.