Current through September 24, 2024
(1) The Department shall sanction a Families
First/TANF recipient who is required to participate in a work and/or
educational activities requirement and who fails without good cause, to
participate in the required work and/or educational activities in his/her
Personal Responsibility Plan.
(a) Failure to
participate in required work and/or educational activities includes, but is not
limited to, refusal to cooperate in the required activities, failure to make
satisfactory progress in the required activities, failure to meet minimum
attendance standards for the required activities, refusal to participate in the
activities directed towards the recipient's employment goals, falsifying
employment documentation, refusal to accept suitable employment, refusal to
participate in Family Focused Solutions (FFS) if FFS hours are being used as
job search/ job readiness hours, or voluntarily quitting employment without
good cause.
1. Following non-compliance with
required work and/or educational activities, a sanction shall make the entire
assistance unit (AU) ineligible during the mandatory period of case closure
when the Families First/TANF recipient to be sanctioned is the caretaker or
either parent in a two (2) parent AU.
2. Following non-compliance with required
work and/or educational activities, a sanction shall be applied to remove a
Families First/TANF recipient from the AU when that individual is a minor
parent who is also a dependent child in an AU.
(b) Failure to make satisfactory progress
shall be determined by a Families First/TANF recipient's grades in educational
activities, objective performance measurements of the recipient's employer, or
other objective criteria for the measurement of a recipient's performance for
each specific work and/or educational activity. The recipient is responsible
for obtaining such written documentation as the Department determines may be
necessary to verify satisfactory progress.
(c) Exempted Individuals Volunteering. If a
Families First/TANF recipient chooses to volunteer to participate in the work
and/or educational activities requirement, the recipient may retain exempt
status if he/she choose not to comply, except those individuals who are
caretakers, in a single-parent household, of a child at least sixteen (16)
weeks of age.
(2)
Attendance Standards and Good Cause.
(a) All
Families First/TANF work and/or educational activities requirements are
mandatory, unless otherwise provided in this Chapter. Recipients shall be
sanctioned for any unexcused absences from Families First/TANF work and/or
educational activities requirements. A recipient's first unexcused absence is
considered non-compliance and is grounds for a sanction.
(b) Good cause may excuse a Families
First/TANF recipient's failure to comply with their work and/or educational
activities requirement. Good cause reasons include, but are not limited to, the
following:
1. Recipient is determined through
medical evidence to be physically or mentally unable to perform the work and/or
educational activities requirement assigned;
2. Recipient lacks child care;
3. Recipient has a serious household
emergency;
4. Recipient meets a work
and/or educational activities requirement exemption criterion;
5. Recipient's health or safety is at
risk;
6. Recipient lacks
transportation;
7. Recipient
voluntarily quits employment with good cause as set forth in Rule
1240-01-49-.06;
8. Recipient is under threat of domestic
violence; or
9. Any other factor
which exists that is beyond the control of the Families First/TANF
recipient.
(3)
The Department shall impose sanctions on all Families First/TANF recipients who
are determined non-compliant, without good cause, with the work and/or
educational activities requirements included in his/her Personal Responsibility
Plan as set forth below.
(a) Notification of
non-compliant Families First/TANF recipients. The Department shall receive
notification from the work and educational service providers for Families
First/TANF recipients to determine whether the recipient is non-compliant with
required work and/or educational activities.
(b) ADA Evaluation. Prior to issuing a notice
of adverse action, the Department's eligibility counselor shall review the
referred recipient's case to determine whether the recipient may have any
disabilities, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, or barriers to
employment that prevent the recipient from complying with required work and/or
educational activities.
(c)
Conciliation and Adverse Action.
1. Notice of
Adverse Action. If the Department's eligibility counselor determines that a
Families First/TANF recipient is non-compliant with assigned work and/ or
educational activities, the eligibility counselor shall close the recipient's
Families First/TANF case and issue the non-compliant recipient a notice of
adverse action. The notice of adverse action shall contain:
(i) Notice to the Families First/TANF
recipient that he/she must contact the Department's eligibility counselor
within ten (10) calendar days of the date of the notice to provide verification
of good cause for non-compliance with work and/or educational
activities;
(ii) The effective date
of closure; and
(iii) Notice of the
Department's appeal procedures.
2. Conciliation/Adverse Action Period. The
Families First/TANF recipient must contact the Department during the ten (10)
calendar day conciliation/adverse action period to provide verification of good
cause. If the recipient contacts the Department during the ten (10) calendar
day conciliation/adverse action period and provides adequate verification of
good cause the Department shall reverse the closure of the recipient's Families
First/TANF case.
3. Sanction Period.
If the non-compliant recipient fails to provide the Department adequate
verification of good cause during the ten (10) calendar day
conciliation/adverse action period, the recipient's case closure shall be
effective on the date set forth in the notice of adverse action and a sanction
shall be applied to the recipient's Families First/TANF case pursuant to
paragraph (4) below.
(4) Length of Sanction. The mandatory
sanction shall be imposed for the following time periods:
(a) First violation. The first violation
shall result in the imposition of a one (1) month case closure period of
ineligibility for cash assistance.
(b) Second violation. The second violation
shall result in the imposition of a three (3) month case closure period of
ineligibility for cash assistance.
(c) Third violation. The third violation
shall result in the imposition of a six (6) month case closure period of
ineligibility for cash assistance.
(d) Fourth or Subsequent Violation. The
fourth or subsequent violation shall result in a twelve (12) month case closure
period of ineligibility for cash assistance.
(e) The sanction shall begin with the next
recurring month following the expiration of the adverse action period, unless
the participant timely appeals within ten (10) days of the date of the
conciliation/adverse action notice.
(5) Child Care. The Department shall provide
at least three (3) months of transitional child care to any Families First/TANF
recipient whose case is closed due to noncompliance with the work and/or
educational activities requirements.
(6) Early Re-entry during Case Closure. A
Families First/TANF recipient whose case was closed due to noncompliance with
the work and/or educational activities requirement may apply for early re-entry
if he/she meets the following criteria:
(a)
The early re-entry criteria during the mandatory sanction periods are:
1. The receipt of cash assistance would
prevent removal of a child from the home by the Department of Children's
Services;
2. The recipient has
become disabled or incapacitated according to the Families First/TANF work
activities exemption policy;
3. The
recipient is under a threat of domestic violence;
4. The receipt of cash assistance would
prevent the recipient's family or AU from becoming homeless; or
5. The recipient has assumed the
responsibility of caring for an in-home disabled relative.
(b) Fourth or Subsequent Sanction Period. If
a non-compliant recipient has been continuously employed for a period of three
(3) months for at least thirty (30) hours per week, is still employed, and is
able to verify the employment, then that recipient is eligible for early
re-entry during a fourth or subsequent sanction period.
(7) Families First/TANF Eligibility after
Sanction.
(a) Applications filed prior to the
expiration of the mandatory sanction period shall be denied due to
ineligibility for benefits during the sanction period unless the applicant is
able to show early re-entry criteria, as set forth in paragraph (6)
above.
(b) Participation in Families
First/TANF after a sanction due to non-compliance with the work and/or
educational activities requirement may resume when:
1. The mandatory sanction period has
expired;
2. The former recipient
timely files a new Families First/TANF application as required by subparagraph
(a) of this paragraph (7) and meets all other eligibility criteria;
and
3. The former Families
First/TANF recipient complies with required work and/or educational activities
for ten (10) consecutive business days after
re-application.
(c) The
Department shall consider a former recipient's Families First/TANF application
pending during the mandatory ten (10) consecutive business day compliance
period and the recipient shall receive childcare, as
needed.
(8) Appeals. Any
individual who receives notification of a case closure as a result of
non-compliance with the work and/or educational activities requirement may
timely appeal according to the appeal procedures outlined in Chapter 1240-05
and Title 4, Chapter 5, Part 3 of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act.
(a) To continue receiving benefits, without
the imposition of a sanction, the Families First/TANF recipient must request a
hearing during the ten (10) day period following the notice of adverse action.
If the recipient appeals during the adverse action period, no sanctions shall
be imposed until a final decision is entered.
(b) Overpayments. If a final decision
upholding the sanction decision is entered, the cash assistance received during
the sanction period pending the fair hearing will be considered an overpayment
and DHS may collect the overpayment in accordance with the procedures set forth
in Chapter 1240-01-52.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
4-5-201 et seq., 4-5-202, 4-5-209,
71-1-105, 71-1-105(12), 71-3-101 through 71-3-115, 71-3-104(a), (d)(1)(B) and
(C), (g) and (h), 71-3-107(c)(1) and (f), and 71-3-108(d)(2)(D); 42 U.S.C.
§§ 601 et seq., 42
U.S.C. §
602,
42 U.S.C. §
607(c)(2)(C), 42 U .S.C.
§ 607(c), (d)(1) through (12) and (e),
42 U.S.C. §
608,
42 U.S.C. §
608(a)(4) and 42 U.S.C.
§ 609; 42 U.S.C.A. § 1315; Federal Waiver of July 26, 1996; Acts of
1996, Chapter 950, and 45 C.F.R. §§ 250.34 through 250.36, §
1115 of the Social Security Act,
45 C.F.R. §
260.30,
45 C.F.R. §
260.31, 45 C .F.R. § 261.2(b) through
(m), 45 C.F.R. §
261.2(n),
45 C.F.R. §
261.10, 45 C .F.R. § 261.30,
45 C.F.R. §
261.31 and
45 C.F.R. §
261.32; Deficit Reduction Act 2005 (
Pub. L.
109-171
§§ 7101 and 7102, February 8,
2006); 71 Federal Register 37454 (June 29, 2006), Public Acts of 2007, Chapter
31, and 42 U.S.C. §
9858c(c)(2)(N)
(i-iii).
