Bonuses and Cash Incentives
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A bonus or incentive is income paid to the participant in addition to their normal wages.
Policy
Cash bonuses or incentives are countable earned income.
Noncash bonuses or incentives are not countable. This includes, and is not limited to any of the following:
●Gift cards
●Meals
●Prizes
●Merchandise
Countable income is used to determine an income budget. (See Income Budgeting to see how FAA determines the income budget.) FAA needs to know about income that is both countable and not countable to determine whether a budgetary unit’s expenses are exceeding their income. (See Income Eligibility for more information about how FAA uses countable and not countable income.)
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
For NA, all of the following income is required to be verified before eligibility is determined:
●Reported on a new application, during the interview of a new application, or changes reported before the eligibility determination of a new application.
●Changes after an eligibility determination of a new application (e.g., a renewal application, mid approval contact, etc.) and any of the following apply:
The source of the income has changed.
The income is questionable(g) or unclear(g).
The reported income amount has changed by $51 or more.
The previous verification in the case file is more than 59 calendar days old.
For CA, all income is required to be verified before determining eligibility.
Examples of verification that can be used for bonuses and incentives considered earned income include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●System interface(g) when the participant agrees that the information is accurate
●A copy of a paycheck stub
●Copy of checks when the gross earnings are listed
●A printout from a third-party payroll verification source provided by the participant
●Third-party payroll verification sources when the employer uses the verification source as its legal agent to provide payroll services or respond to inquiries about employee records. (See Third-Party Payroll Verification Sources(g) for FAA approved sources, additional information, and instructions for requesting additional sources.)
●A New Employment Verification (C005) notice that is completed, dated, and signed by the employer or their payroll authority. To be considered complete, the statement needs to include all of the following:
Name, address, and telephone number of the employer
Gross pay for the periods needed
Frequency of pay (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.)
Day of the week or day of the month pay is received (e.g., Fridays, 5th and 20th of the month, first of the month, etc.)
Any expected change in pay
●For new or current employment verification, a completed Verification of New/Current Employment (FAA‑0053A) form that includes a date and the signature of the employer or their payroll authority
●For terminated employment verification, any of the following completed items that include a date and the signature of the employer or their payroll authority:
Verification of Terminated Employment (FAA-1701A) form
Verification of Terminated Employment (C019) notice
●Letter from the agency providing government-sponsored training
●Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) from the military
●A collateral contact with the employer or their payroll authority
NOTE Collateral contact is not used when contacting the employer would jeopardize the participant's employment or when the employer does not accept telephone verification.
●Participant statement verification can be used when obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant or when all of the following occur:
Attempts to obtain the verification from an acceptable source are unsuccessful. This includes documented and collateral contact verification.
The participant’s statement is not questionable(g).
Legal Authorities
AAC R6-12-501 – 503
A.R.S 46-292 (P-1)
7 CFR 273.9(b)(1)(i)
7 U.S.C. 2014 (f)(B)
last revised 10/02/2023