Current through all regulations passed and filed through December 16, 2024
Every able-bodied adult without
dependents (ABAWD) is required to work twenty hours per week or they will lose
eligibility for the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP). This rule
describes the work requirement, the time-limit on receiving assistance for
ABAWDs who do not work and the process for regaining SNAP eligibility after
reaching the time-limit on participation.
(A)
What is the ABAWD
work requirement?
(1)
For a total of at least twenty hours per week (eighty
hours averaged monthly), every ABAWD is required to either:
(a)
Engage in
work.
For purposes of this rule, "work"
includes:
(i)
Working in exchange for (alone or in combination):
money (paid work); goods or services (in-kind work); or verified unpaid
work.
(ii)
"Unpaid work" includes any activity where the
individual performs something for no compensation and that benefits the
community or a member of the community that does not reside with the
individual. Unpaid work is subject to the verification requirements of rule
5101:4-2-09 of the
Administrative Code.
(b)
Participate in a
work program.
For purposes of this rule, a work
program includes:
(i)
A program under Title 1 of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, Pub. L.
No. 113-128, (07/2014);
(ii)
A program under
section 236 of the Trade Act of 1974,
19 U.S.C.
2296, (06/2015);
(iii)
A program of
employment and training for veterans operated by the department of labor or the
department of veterans affairs; or
(iv)
The SNAP
employment and training (E & T) program operated in accordance with the
requirements and hourly limitations in Chapter 5101:4-9 of the Administrative
Code.
(c)
Participate in a combination of work and a work
program.
(2)
Verification of hours.
(a)
An ABAWD is to
use the JFS 07410 "ABAWD Verification of Unpaid Hours" to verify unpaid work
hours used to fulfill the work requirement. The hours are to be verified at
certification, recertification and anytime that an ABAWD reports a change in
the nature of the work (e.g., hours, location, entity the work is performed
for, etc.).
(b)
A county agency is to verify paid employment hours and
hours spent in a work program consistent with the requirements described in
rule 5101:4-2-09 of the
Administrative Code and verification is to be conducted at certification,
recertification and anytime that an ABAWD reports they are fulfilling the work
requirement through paid employment or a work program that has not already been
verified.
(3)
Each month that an ABAWD received a SNAP allotment for
the entire month and failed to fulfill the ABAWD work requirement without good
cause, is considered a "countable month."
(B)
What is good
cause for not fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement?
When a county agency determines that an
individual would have fulfilled the ABAWD work requirement, but missed some
hours for good cause, the individual is to be considered to have fulfilled the
work requirement when the absence from work, and/or the work program is
temporary.
Good cause is to include circumstances
beyond the individual's control, such as, but not limited to:
(1)
Illness (either
their own or that of another assistance group member requiring the presence of
the ABAWD individual);
(2)
Assistance group emergency;
(3)
Domestic
violence; as defined in section
5107.02 of the Revised Code;
or
(4)
The unavailability of transportation.
(C)
What
is the consequence for not fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement without good
cause?
(1)
An
ABAWD is not eligible to participate in SNAP as a member of any assistance
group when the ABAWD has received benefits for three countable months during
any thirty-six month period. The first month of the thirty-six month count
begins during the first full month of benefits.
(2)
The county agency
is responsible for utilizing the Ohio benefits integrated eligibility system to
enforce the ABAWD time-limit on participation.
(D)
How does an
individual regain eligibility after not fulfilling the ABAWD work
requirement?
(1)
When an individual is ineligible to participate in SNAP due
to the ABAWD time- limit, but is otherwise eligible, they may regain SNAP
eligibility by:
(a)
Becoming exempt from the general work requirements or
the ABAWD work requirement. The individual becomes eligible on the date of
application (or the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP
assistance group); or
(b)
In the sixty days prior to the date of application (or
the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP assistance group),
completing a total of eighty hours of work or participation in a work program
over thirty consecutive days. The individual becomes eligible on the date of
application (or the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP
assistance group).
The SNAP E & T program is a work
program reserved for SNAP recipients and is not a work program that can be used
to regain SNAP eligibility due to a failure to comply with the ABAWD work
requirement.
(2)
Once in a
thirty-six month period, an ABAWD may be eligible for an additional three
consecutive months of SNAP eligibility after failing to meet the work
requirement. When the county agency determines that an ABAWD who has regained
SNAP eligibility in accordance with this rule has subsequently failed to meet
the ABAWD work requirement, the county agency will determine if the ABAWD has
received the additional three consecutive months of benefits in the past
thirty-six months.
(a)
When the county agency determines that the ABAWD has
already received the three consecutive additional months of eligibility, the
ABAWD is ineligible.
(b)
When the county agency determines that the ABAWD has
not yet received the three consecutive additional months of eligibility, the
ABAWD is eligible for a period of three consecutive countable months starting
on either:
(i)
The date the individual first notifies the county agency that they are no
longer fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement; or
(ii)
When the
individual has been satisfying the work requirement by participating in a SNAP
E & T component, the date the county agency notifies the individual that
they are no longer meeting the ABAWD work requirement.
Replaces: 5101:4-3-20, 5101:4-3-20.1