PM 03-15-05: Good Cause Reasons

WAG 03-15-05.

Prior to implementing a Work Provision sanction, the FCRC must determine if the customer had a good cause reason for not complying. Good cause includes situations beyond the customer's control, such as but not limited to:

• the customer's illness or illness of another SNAP household member that requires the customer's presence; or
• a lack of transportation; or
• a household emergency; or
• lack of adequate child care for children age 6 through 11; or

  NOTE:See PM 03-04-03-b for a definition of a lack of adequate child care. 

• the job is "unsuitable employment"; or

  NOTE:A job is "suitable employment" if: 

  • Wages offered (including tips) are at least the highest of the Federal hourly minimum wage (see WAG 25-06-08), the state minimum wage, or 80% of the Federal minimum if neither the Federal or state minimum apply.
  • Wages are on a piecework basis and the amount the person can reasonably expect to earn equals at least the current minimum wage.
  • As a condition of employment, the person is not required to: join, resign from, or refrain from joining any legal labor organization. This does not include being required to pay dues as part of a closed shop whether or not the employee joins.
  • The job offered is not subject to a strike or lockout at the time of the offer. If the strike is under injunction or enjoined, the job is suitable.
  • The job is in the person's major field of experience. Allow this reason only if the person quit the job within 30 days of the date of registration.
  • The job does not pose an unreasonable degree of risk to the person's health and safety.
  • The person is physically and mentally able to do the work.
  • The job is within a reasonable distance of the person's home. Commuting time is not more than 2 hours per day, not including travel to and from child care. Also, there must be available public or private transportation to the job site.
  • The hours of work or the nature of the job does not interfere with the person's religious beliefs.
• an employer discriminates based on age, race, sex, color, handicap, religious beliefs, national origin, or political beliefs; or
• a job has work demands or conditions that make it unreasonable to continue; or

  NOTE:This includes but is not limited to working and not being paid on schedule. 

• a person must quit their current job in order to accept a new job; or
• another SNAP household member accepted a job in another county that requires that the family move; or
• a person quits a job because another SNAP household member enrolls in an education program in another county that requires the family to move; or

  NOTE:The customer must be enrolled at least half-time, and be in a recognized school, training program, or institution of higher education. 

• a person under age 60 retires from their job and the employer recognizes this act as a retirement and not as a resignation; or
• a person accepts a job offer of suitable employment, but because of factors beyond their control, either:
  • the job falls through, or
  • the job turns out to be less than 20 hours a week, or
  • the gross weekly earnings (including tips) are less than Federal minimum wage times 20 hours (see WAG 25-06-08); or
• a person's leaving of a job is a normal pattern for that type of work. Examples of a pattern of employment where workers frequently move from one employer to another are, migrant farm labor or construction work.

  These types of workers may apply for benefits between jobs while waiting for work to open up at a new job site. Even though employment at the new job site has not actually begun, there is good cause for quitting the previous job if this is the normal pattern for this type of work.