Striker Eligibility Requirements
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This topic defines when a participant is considered a striker and when a striker is either eligible or ineligible for NA and CA benefits.
Policy
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NA Striker Eligibility
Cases with participants who are on strike are eligible to participate in the NA program only when they meet all of the following:
●The financial and non-financial eligibility factors are met on the day before the strike.
●All non-financial eligibility factors are met at the time of application.
NOTE Benefits do not increase when income decreases due to participating in a strike.
NA Participants Not Considered Strikers
Employees are not considered strikers when all of the following are met:
●Employees whose workplace is closed by an employer to resist demands of employees, unless the participant was striking before the lockout or shutdown.
●Employees are unable to work because of striking employees.
●Employees are not part of the bargaining unit on strike and do not want to cross a picket line due to fear of personal injury or death.
NA Pre-striker Eligibility
To determine pre-strike eligibility, FAA considers all eligibility factors on the day before the strike and completes all of the following to determine the amount of income to budget toward eligibility:
●Compares the striking participant's income before the strike to their current income.
●Compares the temporary strike-related union payments to the pre-strike average monthly earnings.
●Adds the higher amount to the budgetary unit's combined income for the current budget month.
Strikers eligible to receive NA are subject to NA Work Requirements unless the participant meets an NA Work Requirements exemption on the day of the application.
NA Participants Considered Strikers
For NA, a participant is considered a striker when a participant meets any of the following conditions:
●Involvement in a strike(g) or other planned stoppage of work by employees, including stoppage because of the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement.
●Involvement in a planned slowdown or planned interruption of operations by employees.
●Suspended from employment and would be allowed to work when not striking.
●Striking and was exempt from work registration on the day before the strike only because the participant was currently employed.
●Participating in a strike or being a member of the striking union, even when they did not vote to strike.
More than one employed participant may have been exempt from work registration due to employment. When a participant is exempt from the NA Work Requirement due to either the care of a child or they are a participant with a disability before the strike, all of the following apply:
●Do not consider a participant as a striker who claims to have been responsible for a dependent's care.
NOTE When another participant in the budgetary unit is responsible for the dependent's care, consider the participant not involved in the care as a striker.
●Do not consider a participant with a disability before the strike as a striker.
Receipt of Unemployment Insurance (UI) does not necessarily affect a participant's striker status.
CA Striker Eligibility
CA benefits are determined by using the higher of one of the following:
●The voluntary striker's pre-strike average monthly income.
●The union-strike pay the striker receives during the strike period
CA Participants Considered Strikers
For CA, a participant is considered a striker when the participant meets any of the following conditions:
●Suspended from employment and would be allowed to work when not striking.
●Participating in a strike. The employee is considered a striker regardless of whether they voted for the strike.
When a union is decertified, an employee on strike continues to be considered a striker.
CA Participants Not Considered Strikers
CA participants are not considered strikers and are potentially eligible for CA when any of the following occur:
●An employer closes or shuts down the workplace to resist employee demands unless they were striking before the lockout or shutdown.
●The employer terminates the striker’s employment, even when strike pay is received.
●An employee is not a participant in the bargaining unit on strike and does not want to cross a picket line due to fear of personal injury.
●A local, state, or federal government employee participates in a strike against the government. The employee is considered to have voluntarily quit their job. (See Quitting a Job, Reducing Work Hours, and Refusing a Job Offer for information about work disqualifications.)
●An employee is unemployed or unable to work solely because of others who are on strike.
Verification
The claim is required to be verified by evidence that there have been threats of violence. Verification sources include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Police reports
●Company officials
●Union officials
●Newspaper accounts
●Employees fired or resigned from the striking company.
For CA participants not to be considered Strikers, verification is needed for any of the following situations:
●An employer closes or shuts down the workplace to resist employee demands unless they were striking before the lockout or shutdown.
●The employer terminates the striker’s employment, even when strike pay is being received. The employee's termination notice serves as verification.
●An employee is not a participant in the bargaining unit on strike and does not want to cross a picket line due to fear of personal injury. Verify the threats of violence through union personnel, company officials, newspaper reports, etc.
●An employee is unemployed or unable to work solely as a result of others who are on strike.
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.1(e)
R6-12-317 (F)(9)(d)
R9-12-602
last revised 12/27/2022