Work Requirement Disqualifications
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The subject of this section is about the reduction of NA and CA benefits due to a participant voluntarily quitting a job, reducing work hours, refusing a job offer, or receiving an NA UI-comparable disqualification without a good cause reason.
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Reasons for Work Requirement Disqualifications
Unless a participant is exempt from the work requirements or has a good cause reason, all of the following are reasons for disqualification and may cause benefits to decrease or stop:
●Quitting a job when all of the following apply:
The participant is employed at least 20 hours per week.
The participant’s earned income is equal to the federal minimum wage(g) multiplied by 20 hours per week.
●Refusing a job offer when all of the following apply:
The job offer is for at least 20 hours per week.
The job offer includes income equal to the federal minimum wage multiplied by 20 hours per week.
●Reducing work hours when all of the following apply:
The participant is employed at least 30 hours per week.
The participant voluntarily reduces work hours to less than 30 hours per week.
NOTE Reduced work hours do not apply when work hours are reduced to less than 30 hours per week, and weekly earnings continue to exceed the federal minimum wage multiplied by 30 hours.
●Receiving an Unemployment Insurance (UI) disqualification may cause an NA work disqualification called an NA UI-comparable disqualification. FAA requests the participant’s statement about the circumstance of a UI disqualification. Any of the following system interface(g) information may indicate an NA UI-comparable disqualification:
Ability to work and refuses to work
Available for employment and does not appear for work
Failure or refusal to accept a job
Refusal to accept a referral for a job
Voluntary quit employment
Discharged from employment for misconduct
UI overpayment penalties
Failed to meet reporting requirements for UI or Job Service
See NA Work Requirement Exemptions or CA Jobs Exemptions for work requirement exemption reasons.
FAA considers good cause reasons for noncompliance with the work requirements before reducing or stopping benefits. When a participant has a good cause reason and provides reasonable verification, FAA does not reduction or stop benefits. See Work Requirement Good Cause Reasons for a list of possible good cause reasons.
Work requirement exemptions do not apply to strikers. See Striker Eligibility to determine how participation in a strike against a local, state, or federal government employer may affect eligibility for benefits.
FAA reduces or stops benefits when a reason for disqualification happens without a good cause reason during any of the following time frames:
●Within the 30 calendar days before the date of the most current application for benefits.
●Any time between the application date and before the eligibility determination is completed.
●Any time during a benefit approval period.
For NA, FAA is required to reduce benefits when an NA participant voluntarily quits, reduces work hours, refuses a job offer, or receives an NA UI-comparable disqualification without good cause. One of the following applies:
●When the participant is the NA lead participant, NA benefits stop for the budgetary unit. See NA Lead Participant Selection for how the lead participant is selected.
●When the participant is not the NA lead participant, benefits stop for that participant.
For CA, when a CA participant voluntarily quits, reduces work hours, or refuses a job offer, FAA stops CA benefits for the budgetary unit allowing for notice of adverse action(g) when the participant is the Primary Informant(g) or the TPEP Primary Wage Earner(g). The CA budgetary unit is subject to benefit reductions when the participant is not the Primary Informant (PI) or the TPEP Primary Wage Earner (PWE). See Voluntary Quit Noncompliance Notification and CA PRA Graduated Sanctions for more information about how graduated sanctions consist of two levels of CA benefit reductions and can cause benefits to stop.
See Reasons for Work Requirements Disqualifications for details about what causes a disqualification.
Exceptions to the Work Requirement Disqualification
Exceptions to a work requirement disqualification include any of the following:
●The NA participant currently is or was exempt from NA work registration at the time of the disqualifying reason.
●The CA participant currently is or was exempt from Jobs participation at the time of quitting a job, reducing work hours, or refusing a job offer.
NOTE Participants need to meet an NA work requirement exemption and CA Jobs participation exemption other than employed for these exceptions to be applicable.
FAA does not reduce benefits under any of the following circumstances:
●Reduction of work hours by the employer.
●Terminating a self-employment enterprise.
●Resigning from a job or reducing work hours at the demand of the employer.
●For NA, reducing work hours to less than 30 hours a week and the participant continues to earn weekly wages that exceed the federal minimum wage multiplied by 30 hours.
●The participant who voluntarily quits or reduces work hours accepts other employment of comparable hours or salary.
NOTE Do not consider a job incomparable simply because the number of hours or the salary of the new job is lower than the job that is quit. A participant can quit a job for one that might offer more opportunity.
Refusing a job offer does not apply to a TPEP Primary Wage Earner when they have declined an offer of employment or training within 30 calendar days(g) before the period for which TPEP benefits are to be paid because TPEP requires participation before benefits are issued.
Work Requirement Good Cause Reasons
NA and CA good cause reasons apply to all of the following voluntary actions:
●Quitting a job.
●Reducing work hours.
●Refusing a job offer.
●NA UI-comparable disqualification.
●Able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD) work requirements. (See ABAWD Eligibility and Requirements for more information.)
Good cause reasons are based on circumstances beyond the participant's control and are determined on a case-by-case basis. Good cause reasons include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Illness or incapacity of another person that requires the presence of the participant.
●Distance to the job was unreasonable due to one of the following:
No public or private transportation, and the distance to the job is too far to walk.
Commuting time exceeds two hours per day, not including time to take a child to a childcare facility.
●Unanticipated emergencies that include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
A court-ordered appearance or incarceration that stops a participant from reporting for work.
Severe weather stops the participant and other people from going to work.
●Lack of adequate childcare when the participant is responsible for the care of a child who is one of the following:
For NA, age six through 11
For CA, under the age of 12
●Inability to write or speak a language necessary for employment.
●Employer discrimination based on any of the following:
Age
Race
Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation)
Color
Handicap
Religious beliefs
National origin
Political beliefs
●Work demands or conditions that render continued employment unreasonable, such as, and not limited to, working without being paid on schedule.
●Resignation by a participant under age 60 who is recognized by the employer as retired.
●Quitting a job to accept new employment of similar hours and salary. Through no fault of the participant, one of the following occurs with the new job:
It fails to materialize.
Results in a layoff.
Employment of fewer than 20 hours per week.
Weekly earnings are less than the federal minimum wage multiplied by 20 hours per week.
●Leaving a job in connection with employment patterns in which employees frequently move from one employer to another. Examples include migrant farm labor or construction work.
●Unsuitable employment. Employment may be suitable when a participant accepts a job and becomes unsuitable later. This can occur for any of the following conditions:
When the employment is subject to the federal minimum wage laws, weekly earnings or training wages have to be less than the federal minimum wage multiplied by 20 hours per week.
When employment is not subject to federal minimum wage laws, weekly wages have to be less than 80% of the federal minimum wage multiplied by 20 hours per week.
●A job offer includes one of the following:
The job pays on a piece-rate basis.
The average weekly income the employee can reasonably be expected to earn is less than 80% of 20 hours per week at the federal minimum wage.
●The employee is required to join, not join, or quit a labor organization, as a condition of employment.
●The location of the job offered is subject to strike or lockout unless the strike is prohibited under one of the following:
The Taft-Hartley Act (Section 208 of the Labor Management Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 178).
An injunction issued under Section 10 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 160).
NOTE A striker who belongs to a union may not refuse work just because the job offered is non-union.
●When the participant can demonstrate, or FAA can determine, that any of the following is true:
The participant is physically or mentally incapable of performing the assigned tasks of the job. Documented medical evidence or reliable verification from other sources is required.
The degree of risk to health and safety is unreasonable.
The work hours or type of job interferes with the participant's religious convictions, beliefs, or practices.
●The participant has reasonable fear that retaining employment could result in harm to themselves, or their family, as a victim or survivor of any of the following:
Domestic violence
Sexual Harassment
Sexual assault
Stalking
For NA, in addition to the reasons previously listed, good cause reasons also include any of the following:
●A job is offered in the first 30 calendar days of work registration that is not in the participant's field of experience.
NOTE After the first 30 calendar days of registration, the participant may be required to accept a job outside the field of experience.
●The NA participant is required to leave a job due to one of the following:
Accepts other employment of comparable hours or salary.
Enrolls at least half-time in any recognized school, training program, or institution of higher education(g).
●An NA participant leaves a job because of another budgetary unit participant in any of the following situations:
Accepts employment in another city or county that requires the budgetary unit to move.
Enrolls at least half-time in any recognized school, training program, or institution of higher education in another city or county that requires the budgetary unit to move.
NOTE When a participant states that they have a good cause reason for not meeting the work requirements, FAA discusses the situation with the participant.
Disqualification or Benefit Reduction Time Frames
An NA disqualification includes one of the following periods:
●One month for the first violation
●Three months for the second violation
●Six months for every additional violation
The length of an NA disqualification period depends on the number of disqualifications a participant has received for any of the following work requirement disqualifications without a good cause reason:
●Quitting a job
●Reducing work hours
●Refusing a job offer
●NA UI-comparable disqualification
For information about work requirement disqualifications, see Reasons for Work Requirement Disqualifications.
Regardless of whether a disqualification period extends beyond the end of an NA approval period(g), disqualifications begin with one of the following:
●The first month allowing for notice of adverse action(g).
NOTE There is no overpayment for the months when FAA did not impose the disqualification in a timely manner.
●With the first month, an NA budgetary unit is not receiving benefits pending a hearing decision.
●With the first month, the first allotment is issued following the hearing decision when any of the following applies:
The hearing decision is upheld.
The budgetary unit did not waive receipt of continuing benefits pending the hearing decision.
To determine the month an NA disqualification ends, FAA reviews all of the following information:
●The number of months the participant did not receive benefits.
●The number of months of the overpayment is issued based on any of the following:
Quitting a job
Reducing hours
Refusing a job offer
NOTE FAA treats overpayment months as months a budgetary unit did not receive benefits to determine disqualification months.
The participant's NA benefit disqualification ends when the total of months equals the length of the disqualification period. During periods of non-receipt of benefits, any of the following could apply toward the disqualification period:
●When a budgetary unit waives rights to continue receiving benefits during an appeals process
●NA benefits stopped for reasons unrelated to the NA work requirements disqualification.
Non-receipt of NA benefits for any reason for a period equal to the disqualification period satisfies the disqualification requirement.
The non-receipt of benefit can only be applied when FAA issues the participant a notice that includes the disqualification period.
When FAA discovers a disqualification occurred within 30 calendar days of the date of a new NA application and before an eligibility determination. FAA takes all of the following actions:
●For NA:
The application is denied when the disqualified participant is the NA lead participant.
NOTE For a disqualification of one month, the PI does not need to complete another application or interview. The same application and interview can be used for benefits. When the disqualification is for more than one month, a new application is required.
When the participant is not the NA lead participant, the participant is disqualified for the appropriate number of months.
NOTE When the disqualification period ends, FAA adds the participant to the NA benefit amount.
●For CA:
An application is denied when the disqualified participant is the PI or the TPEP Primary Wage Earner (PWE).
NOTE The PI is required to turn in another application and complete an interview. The budgetary unit is not eligible until the disqualification period ends.
When the participant is not the PI or the TPEP PWE, FAA imposes an appropriate graduated sanction of 50% or 100%. See CA sanctions for complete information about graduated sanctions.
When FAA discovers a reason for disqualification after approval of benefits and within 30 calendar days(g) before the application date, and the participant does not have a good cause reason, all of the following disqualification start dates are applied:
●For NA, FAA imposes a disqualification for the first month possible, allowing for Notice of Adverse Action(g).
●For CA, FAA imposes a graduated sanction the first month possible, allowing for Notice of Adverse Action (NOAA).
A work disqualification occurring in the last month of the approval period is too late to allow for NOAA. When this happens, FAA completes all of the following:
●For NA, when the participant reapplies, the disqualification begins on the first calendar day after the current approval period ends.
●For CA, when the participant does not reapply, FAA determines the month the disqualification would have been effective, allowing for NOAA.
When the decision is upheld in an appeal, the disqualification period begins the first applicable month after the hearing decision is rendered. (See Right to an Appeal Hearing for information about the appeal rights of a participant.)
NA Reinstatement During Disqualification
The NA budgetary unit or the participant may attempt to reestablish eligibility at any time, following the notification of disqualification and during the disqualification period.
The budgetary unit may reestablish eligibility when any of the following occurs:
●The disqualified NA lead participant moves out of the budgetary unit.
●The noncompliant NA lead participant becomes exempt from NA Work Requirements. (See NA Work Requirement Exemptions for all applicable exemptions)
●The budgetary unit applies for benefits with a new participant who is eligible to be the NA lead participant. The disqualified participant continues to be ineligible for the remainder of the disqualification period.
●The NA nonlead participant may reestablish eligibility when the budgetary unit reports a change that exempts the participant from the NA work requirements.
A disqualification follows a participant who moves to another budgetary unit. The disqualification only affects the disqualified participant when the disqualified participant does not become the NA lead participant.
The participant may become the NA lead participant of the new budgetary unit. When this occurs, the new budgetary unit is disqualified from receiving NA benefits for the remainder of the disqualification period.
Reinstatement After Disqualification
For disqualification of an NA lead participant, following a disqualification period of more than one month, an NA budgetary unit has to reapply and be determined eligible.
NOTE For a disqualification period of one month, FAA uses the same application.
For disqualification of an NA participant who is not a lead participant, FAA redetermines the participant's eligibility. When this occurs, all of the following apply:
●The participant is added to the budgetary unit when otherwise eligible.
NOTE For NA UI-comparable disqualification of a participant who is not a lead participant, the budgetary unit needs to submit a request for the participant to be added to the benefits. For more information about an NA UI-comparable disqualification, see Reasons for Work Requirement Disqualifications.
●The participant’s work requirements status is updated.
●When possible, the participant is screened for a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Career Advancement Network (SNAP CAN) referral.
To end an NA UI-comparable disqualification, all of the following apply:
●Disqualified budgetary units have to reapply.
●The budgetary unit has to submit a request for the participant to be added to the NA benefits.
●The noncompliant participant needs to be exempt from, or in compliance with, the unemployment Insurance registration and participation requirements.
●FAA has to verify a NA work requirement exemption or UI compliance before NA work disqualification reinstatement.
See CA Sanctions and Reapplication After CA Sanction for more information about ending CA graduated sanctions that result from a work requirement disqualification.
Verification
The Primary Informant(g) is responsible for providing the verification. FAA offers assistance when it is difficult for the PI to obtain written verification.
Sources of verification include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●The previous employer
●Employee associations
●Union representatives
●Grievance committees or organizations
●FAA can use a collateral contact when written verification cannot be obtained
●Participant’s statement when not questionable
Legal References
7CFR 273.7(f)(7)
last revised 01/08/2024