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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 18
West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 25 Chapter 18 WV WORKS Activities/Requirements
18.4.4.C Absences 18.4.4.C.1 Excused Absences Excused absences of up to 16 hours/month, not to exceed a maximum of 80 hours in the 12- month period, including the current month and the preceding 11 months, may be counted as hours worked in that month. Additional days/hours of absence may be considered excused if appropriate but must not count as hours of participation. Inclement weather and states of emergency are included in the 16 hours per month, maximum 80 hours/year excused absences which may count as participation. Missed Work Activity Example 3: Mr. Cactus attends his activity six hours per day Monday through Friday. He has a doctor’s excuse for an appointment on a Monday. He receives six hours of participation credit for this absence. If the participant will not meet the participation requirement when including the absence hours, do not count these absence hours for participation. Participation credit for excused absences must not be entered when sufficient hours have been entered for the work or educational activity to meet the minimum required participation rate. The hours worked include the excused hours when participation did not actually occur. An excused absence includes illness or other good cause which prevented participation. It is the responsibility of the Case Manager to determine if the absence is excused or unexcused based on contact with the employer/contractor and participant documentation. A determination of good cause may only be made by the Case Manager. Absences must not be used toward calculating the monthly participation hours, unless the Case Manager has determined that the absences meet the definition of what may be excused, and the participant was scheduled to work that day. The Case Manager must document in comments why the absences are being excused and how the reason for the absence was verified. 18.4.4.C.2 Tracking Absences A fixed calendar year is not used (i.e., January – December). The running total of excused absence hours credited for the most recent 12 months (defined as the most recent month plus the preceding 11 months) must be calculated each month.