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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 14

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 42 Chapter 14 Work Requirements

14.10.2 SNAP PENALTY EXAMPLES Example 1: A SNAP AG consists of: Mr. Hollyhock, his two children (ages three and four), Mr. Hollyhock’s brother and sister-in-law and their newborn child. Mr. Hollyhock receives a WV WORKS benefit and must meet the WV WORKS work requirements, unless temporarily exempt. The brother and sister-in-law do not receive WV WORKS and must meet the SNAP work requirements. The brother is 17 years old and just graduated from high school. At the last redetermination, the brother was exempted from the SNAP work requirement due to high school attendance. The sister-in-law, who is on extended maternity leave from her employment, is planning to return to work in three months. In October, Mr. Hollyhock and his brother are both offered jobs at the same work site. The work is manual labor and pays minimum wage. Both Mr. Hollyhock and his brother are able to perform the work, but they believe they can find better jobs; both refuse the employment. The Worker determines that neither had good cause for the refusal and applies the following penalties: For Mr. Hollyhock: A sanction is imposed for WV WORKS and the benefit is closed. The amount of his previous WV WORKS benefit is counted as income for SNAP purposes. A SNAP penalty is not imposed because Mr. Hollyhock is responsible for the care of a child under age six. If he received SNAP only, he would be exempt from SNAP work requirements. For the brother: No SNAP penalty is applied for the brother’s offense because he was exempt at the last redetermination and is not subject to the SNAP work requirements until the next redetermination. Example 2: Ms. Aster receives a WV WORKS benefit for herself and her three children, ages 15, 12 and 7. She refuses without good cause to pursue child support for her last child and her WV WORKS case is sanctioned. Even though cooperation with the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) is a Personal Responsibility Contract (PRC) requirement, it is not a work-related requirement. Therefore, a SNAP penalty is not applied for this offense. Example 3: Continuation of example above. After the first WV WORKS sanction has been applied, Ms. Aster fails to participate in her Community Work Experience Program (CWEP) assignment with no reason given. The Case Manager determines that she did not have good cause and applies a second WV WORKS sanction. Because this is a WV WORKS work requirement, a SNAP penalty is applied. Ms. Aster continues in her second WV WORKS sanction and her first SNAP penalty is applied.