Requirements after registration in the Job Search Project are applicable only to registrants in the Job Search Project human services center (HSC).

• (1) Employment and Training (E&T) Program.  The intent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) E&T Program is to ensure all able-bodied food benefit recipients are involved in meaningful work related activities which will lead to paid employment and a decreased dependency on assistance programs.  The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) is responsible for assisting and directing persons in E&T activities which enable them to achieve or maintain economic self support.  These activities include registration for E&T, employment related evaluations and assessment, employability planning, counseling, job developing, and job placement.
  • (A) All work registrants not exempted from work registration who live in the designated SNAP E&T HSC office boundaries or have not been exempted from E&T activity must participate in the SNAP E&T Program.  • 1  Food benefit recipients exempted from work registration or from E&T may participate in the SNAP E&T Program as a volunteer.
  • (B) The E&T requirement applies each time a registrant loses a work registration exemption, re-enters SNAP after a period of absence, or each 12 months, whichever occurs first.
  • (C) If a work registrant becomes exempt from work registration at any point during the E&T process, E&T requirements no longer apply.
  • (D) When a work registrant moves from a non-E&T HSC into the Job Search Project HSC boundaries, the E&T is initiated for work registrants immediately following receipt and review of the case file.  When a work registrant moves from the Job Search Project HSC boundaries into a non-E&T HSC boundaries, E&T requirements no longer apply.
• (2) SNAP E&T exemptions.  Mandatory work registrants not exempted from work registration may be exempted from the SNAP E&T Program if the registrant:
  • (A) resides an unreasonable distance from the HSC or potential employer.  A distance is considered unreasonable if the round trip exceeds two hours by public or private transportation;
  • (B) is a migrant or seasonal farm worker away from his or her home base and following the work stream;
  • (C) lacks adequate child care;
  • (D) has physical or mental problems;
  • (E) is 55 years of age or older and working under Title V of the Older American Act; or
  • (F) is homeless as defined in OAC 340:50-5-29.
• (3) E&T classification.  Participants are classified into four groups.
  • (A) Job ready.  The registrant does not have substantial barriers to employment.
  • (B) Not job ready.  This classification is assigned when the food benefit work registrant has barriers that require services not available through the SNAP E&T Program.  If this classification is assigned, the person's worker or food benefit E&T worker finds services to eliminate these barriers to employment.
  • (C) Job attached.  The registrant is temporarily laid off or expects to return to work within 60 calendar days.  This classification is assigned for only 60 calendar days.  At the end of the 60 calendar day period, the registrant, if still unemployed, is reassessed and reclassified to a different category.
  • (D) Exempt.  This classification is assigned if the registrant meets any of the conditions listed in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
• (4) SNAP E&T component assignments.  Participants classified as job ready are assigned to an E&T component as described in (A) through (C) of this paragraph.     • 2
  • (A) Job Search.  Participants assigned to this component are required to contact a minimum of 24 employers within an eight-week period or two four-week periods.  One eight-week period is eight consecutive weeks of job search with a follow-up meeting after the first four weeks.  A two four-week job search period has a period of time between the two job search periods.  One follow-up interview is required each four weeks.
    • (i) A job contact is defined as a registrant presenting himself or herself as available and applying for work.
    • (ii) Appointments are scheduled on Form 08FB020E, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Letter.  • 3
    • (iii) The job search assignment is given to the registrant in writing on Form 08FB022E, Job Search Plan.  This form is also used to schedule follow-up interviews and used by the registrant to report job contacts.  Job contacts are reported in writing and the registrant must attest that the signed statement is true.  Employers contacted by the registrant are not required to provide written confirmation of the contact, but the registrant is required to sign the statement attesting he or she made the contacts.  • 4
    • (iv) If an E&T participant is referred to a job contact by the food benefit E&T worker and does not make this contact, the E&T worker initiates conciliation per (6)(A) of this Section.
    • (v) If an E&T participant does not accept a job offered to him or her without good cause, the food benefit E&T worker initiates conciliation per (6)(A) of this Section.
  • (B) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) component.  A participant assigned to a WIA component is eligible for all the services available through WIA.  • 5  A participant assigned to this component has completed the job search component without finding a job or is identified by the E&T worker as a person who can benefit from the services available through WIA.  When the component is assigned, the participant is provided Form 08TW003E, Interagency Referral and Information, to take to WIA.  • 6  The E&T participant is responsible for returning to the E&T worker Form 08TW003E signed by a representative of WIA.  • 7
  • (C) Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) component.  A participant assigned to this component is eligible for all the services available at OESC.  • 8  A participant assigned to this component is an E&T participant the E&T worker has determined would benefit from these services.  When this component is assigned, the E&T worker gives the participant Form 08TW003E to take to OESC.  • 6  The E&T participant is responsible for returning to the E&T worker Form 08TW003E signed by a representative of OESC.  • 7
• (5) E&T related expenses.  A participant in the SNAP E&T Program may receive up to $25 per month for E&T activity if another agency is not reimbursing the participant for the same type of activity.  Reimbursement is $3 for a half day, four hours or less, and $6 for a full day, more than four hours.
  • (A) The food benefit E&T worker gives Form 08FB023E, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training Participation Report, to the E&T participant to complete Part 1 and return to the HSC during the first week of each month.
  • (B) A work registrant with a child under 12 years of age required to participate or who volunteer in the SNAP E&T Program is eligible for a maximum child care payment of $200 per month per child paid to the child care provider.  See OAC 340:50-5-97 for voucher authorized child care for the SNAP E&T Program.
• (6) Failure to comply.
  • (A) A registrant who fails to keep a scheduled E&T interview or fails to comply with E&T requirements and does not meet the good cause provision in (7) of this Section, is given the opportunity to comply through a conciliation period.  The purpose of conciliation is to resolve disputes in an informal fashion and avoid invoking penalties.  The conciliation period starts the day after noncompliance with E&T requirements is determined and lasts for no more than ten calendar days.     • 9
  • (B) If the registrant has not responded to the conciliation process by the tenth calendar day, the ten-day advance notice is sent.  The adverse action is taken for noncompliance of E&T requirements.  This notice is sent no later than the last day of the conciliation period.
  • (C) To comply with conciliation or show a good faith effort to comply, the participant during the conciliation period must:
    • (i) be assessed or assigned, if he or she failed to be assessed or assigned;
    • (ii) complete the balance of job contacts or at least three verified contacts, if he or she failed to complete job search component; or
    • (iii) provide Form 08TW003E, if he or she failed to return Form 08TW003E from the WIA or OESC component.
  • (D) If conciliation has failed, mandatory disqualification periods are imposed.  The disqualification period for households whose non-compliant E&T registrant is the head of household does not exceed the lesser of the duration of ineligibility listed in (i) through (iii) of this paragraph or 180 calendar days.  For all other non-compliant E&T registrants, disqualification periods remain in effect until the later of the date the household member complies with the work rules or is disqualified for the:
    • (i) first violation, one month;
    • (ii) second violation, three months; or
    • (iii) third or subsequent violation, six months.
  • (E) The disqualification cannot be ended unless the required household member meets the criteria in (6)(D) of this subsection, leaves the household, or becomes exempt from work registration.
    • (i) If any household member who failed to comply with E&T joins another household as the head of household, the entire new household is ineligible for the remainder of the disqualification period.
    • (ii) If the member who failed to comply with E&T joins another household where he or she is not the head of the household, the person is considered an ineligible household member.
  • (F) Households and persons disqualified for failure to comply with E&T requirements may request a fair hearing and continue participation.
  • (G) If the participant fails to comply with E&T requirements and meets the definition of head of household, the food benefits are closed.
  • (H) If the participant fails to comply with E&T requirements and does not meet the definition of head of household, that person is removed from the case.  His or her income continues to be counted.
  • (I) For purposes of failure to comply with work requirements, the head of household is defined in OAC 340:50-5-90.
  • (J) The principal wage earner is the household member, including excluded members, who has the greatest earned income in the two months prior to the violation.
• (7) Good cause.  Good cause includes circumstances beyond the registrant's control, such as, but not limited to:  • 10
  • (A) illness;
  • (B) illness of another household member requiring the presence of the registrant;
  • (C) a household emergency;
  • (D) unavailability of transportation; or
  • (E) lack of adequate child care for children ages 6 through 11.
• (8) Suitable work.  Any employment offered is considered suitable:
  • (A) if the wage offered is at least the highest of the applicable federal minimum wage, the applicable state minimum wage, or 80% of the federal minimum wage, if neither the state nor federal minimum wage applies;
  • (B) if the employment offered is on a piece-rate basis and the average hourly wage the employee can reasonably expect is at least equal to the applicable hourly wages specified;
  • (C) if the registrant, in order to be hired or to continue working, is not required to join, resign from, or refrain from joining any legitimate labor organization;
  • (D) if the work offered is not at a site subject to a strike or lockout at the time of the offer unless the strike has been enjoined under the Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley) or an injunction has been issued under Section 10 of the Railway Labor Act; or
  • (E) unless the registrant demonstrates or the worker determines the:
    • (i) risk to health and safety is unreasonable;
    • (ii) household member is physically or mentally unfit to perform the employment as documented by medical evidence or other reliable information;
    • (iii) employment offered within the first 30 calendar days of registration is not in the registrant's major field of experience;
    • (iv) distance from the registrant's home to the place of employment is unreasonable based on the expected wage and the time and cost of daily commuting.  Commuting time cannot exceed two hours daily; or
    • (v) working hours or nature of the employment interferes with the registrant's religious observations, convictions, or beliefs.
• (9) Monitoring E&T.  The Family Support Services Division SNAP Section staff monitor the SNAP E&T Program.  • 11