Date of Adoption: March 10, 1999.

Purpose: When the manual rewrites took place there were areas needing clarification or corrections. WAC 388-444-0035 adds the 15% exemption for able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). WAC 388-444-0040 adds the work programs for ABAWDs. Due to a federal clarification, WAC 388-444-0045 adds language allowing clients to regain eligibility during the thirty-day application period.

Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 388-444-0035, 388-444-0040, 388-444-0045, and 388-444-0075.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 74.04.510.

Adopted under notice filed as WSR 99-01-115 on December 18, 1998.

Changes Other than Editing from Proposed to Adopted Version: A federal clarification allowed language to be added to WAC 388-444-0045 permitting clients to regain eligibility during the thirty-day application period. In response to the written comments, WAC 388-444-0045 (1)(a) and (b) reverts to the original language of regaining eligibility during a thirty-day period. WAC 388-444-0075 clarifies employment salary and hours to reestablish eligibility during a disqualification period, and any employment as one way to reestablish eligibility after the disqualification period.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 4, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 4, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 4, Repealed 0. Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.

March 10, 1999

Marie Myerchin-Redifer, Manager

Rules and Policies Assistance Unit

A client is exempt from the ABAWD rules provided in WAC 388-444-0030 when the client is:

(1) Under eighteen or ((over forty-nine)) fifty years of age or older;

(2) Physically or mentally unable to work;

(3) A parent or other member of a household with responsibility for a dependent child under eighteen years of age or an incapacitated person;

(4) A pregnant woman;

(5) Living in an exempt area approved by U.S. Department of Agriculture; or

(6) Otherwise exempt under food stamp employment and training as follows:

(a) Complying with the work requirements of ((the WorkFirst)) an employment and training program under TANF;

(b) Applying for or receiving unemployment compensation;

(c) A student enrolled at least half time in any recognized school; or

(d) ((A regular participant)) Participating in a chemical dependency treatment program; or

(e) Employed a minimum of thirty hours per week or receiving weekly earnings which equal the minimum hourly rate multiplied by thirty hours.

(7) Eligible for one of the annual FNS-approved exemption slots under what is called the fifteen percent exemption rule.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090.  98-16-044, § 388-444-0035, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]

(((1) Workfare is a)) Work programs are available to clients eighteen to fifty years of age who are able to work and have no dependents.

(((2))) (1) The following are considered work programs:

(a) Workfare consists of:

(((a))) (i) Thirty days of job search activities in the first month beginning with the first day of application, or sixteen hours of volunteer work with a public or private nonprofit agency; and

(((b))) (ii) In subsequent months, sixteen hours per month of volunteer work with a public or private nonprofit agency allows the client to remain eligible for food stamps. Workfare is not enforced community service or for paying fines or debts due to legal problems.

(b) Work experience (WEX) is supervised, unpaid work for at least twenty hours a week. The work must be for a nonprofit agency or governmental or tribal entity. This work is to improve the work skills of the client.

(c) On-the-job training (OJT) is paid employment for at least twenty hours a week. It is job training provided by an employer at the employer’s place of business and may include some classroom training time.

(((3) A client is not required to perform))

(2) The department may not require more than thirty hours a week of Workfare and paid work ((for more than a total of thirty hours a week)) combined.

(((4))) (3) The department may pay((s)) for some of a client’s actual expenses needed for the client to participate in ((Workfare)) work programs. Standards for paying expenses are set by the department.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090.  98-16-044, § 388-444-0040, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]

(1) A client who is ineligible for food assistance because that client has exhausted the three-month limit in WAC 388-444-0030, can regain eligibility by:

(a) Working eighty hours or more during a thirty-day period;

(b) Participating in and complying with a work program for eighty hours or more during a thirty-day period; ((or))

(c) Participating in and complying with the community service part of a Workfare program; or

(d) Meeting any of the work requirements in (a) through (c) of this subsection in the thirty days after an application for benefits has been filed.

(2) A client who regains eligibility for food assistance under subsection (1) of this section is eligible from the date of application and as long as the requirements of ((subsection (1) of this section)) WAC 388-444-0030 are met.

(3) If otherwise eligible, a client((s)) who regains eligibility ((in)) under the provision of subsection (1) of this section ((and then loses employment or stops participating)), may receive an additional three consecutive months of food assistance when the client:

(a)_Loses employment; or

(b) Loses the opportunity to participate in a work program ((or in Workfare will receive an additional three-consecutive months of food assistance. The three-month certification is)).

(4) The provisions in subsection (3) of this section are allowed only once in the thirty-six month period.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090.  98-16-044, § 388-444-0045, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]

Reviser's note: RCW 34.05.395 requires the use of underlining and deletion marks to indicate amendments to existing rules. The rule published above varies from its predecessor in certain respects not indicated by the use of these markings.
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 98-16-044, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98)

WAC 388-444-0075
Disqualifications for quitting a job without good cause.

(1) If the client quits a job without good cause((, the client is disqualified)):

(a) For applicants, the application is denied and the penalty in subsection (2) of this section is applied beginning with the day of quit; or

(b) For clients already receiving food stamps, the penalty in subsection (2) of this section begins the first of the month following the notice of adverse action.

(2) The client is disqualified for the following minimum periods of time and until the conditions in subsection (((2))) (3) of this section are met:

(a) For the first quit, one month;

(b) For the second quit, three months; and

(c) For the third or subsequent quit, six months.

(((2))) (3) Eligibility may be established during a disqualification period, if the client is otherwise eligible and:

(a) Secures new employment that has a salary or hours comparable to the job which was quit; or

(b) Secures a comparable job at less hours or at a lower salary.

(4) The client may re-establish eligibility after the disqualification, if otherwise eligible by:

(a) Getting a new job;

(b) In nonexempt areas, participating in the FS E&T program;

(c) Participating in Workfare as provided in WAC 388-444-0040;

(d) Becoming exempt as provided in WAC-388-444-0015 ((or WAC)), 388-444-0020, or 388-444-0035;

(e) Applying for or receiving unemployment compensation; or

(f) Participating in WorkFirst.

(((3))) (5) If a disqualified client moves from the assistance unit and joins another assistance unit, the client continues to be treated as an ineligible member of the new assistance unit for the remainder of the disqualification period.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.055, 74.04.057 and 74.08.090.  98-16-044, § 388-444-0075, filed 7/31/98, effective 9/1/98.]

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