N.J. Admin. Code § 10:90-17.3

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 19, October 7, 2024

Section 10:90-17.3 - EEI participation

(a) For those WFNJ adult applicants who meet EEI eligibility criteria at 10:90-17.2(a) or (b), participation in the EEI shall be mandatory and non-cooperation shall result in denial of the WFNJ cash assistance application for both the applicant and the applicant's entire family.

1. EEI participant's shall be required to comply with all aspects of the cooperation and participation provisions of the EEI, as set forth in this subchapter, unless good cause exists, which aspects include, but are not limited to:

i. Keeping all scheduled appointments timely;

ii. Giving reasonable notice and explanation of the inability to keep an appointment;

iii. Cooperating in the development of an WFNJ individual responsibility plan (IRP);

iv. Signing the Early Employment Initiative Participation Agreement, and abiding by the provisions of that Agreement, which includes the agreement to withdraw the family's WFNJ application effective the date unsubsidized employment is secured when the gross earnings from that employment, along with any other countable income, of the family, exceed the maximum allowable income level for WFNJ financial eligibility; and

v. Contacting the child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agency to arrange for post-EEI participation child care services, as appropriate.

(b) Participation in EEI shall be for a minimum period of 15 days to a maximum period of 30 days (which shall run parallel to the time frame for determining WFNJ program eligibility).

1. The applicant shall be referred to the administering entity charged with the responsibility for providing the up-front job search/placement service for EEI. The EEI entity shall develop an EEI plan with the participant, which shall identify the dates and times of the activities, as appropriate, as well as the desired employment goal. In addition, the plan shall state whether an activity support payment is to be provided to cover necessary employment-related expenses to allow participation in the job search/placement activity outlined in the plan. The EEI plan shall be signed by the EEI participant and a copy of the plan shall be provided to the EEI participant.

2. The family's application for WFNJ, Medicaid and/or NJ SNAP shall continue to be processed by the county agency, as appropriate, without delay.

i. Activity support payments and one time lump sum payments associated with participation in the EEI program, as set forth in (c) below, are disregarded as income in accordance with the State Plan for Title XIX when determining eligibility for AFDC-Related Medicaid.

3. All EEI participants shall be required to participate in an up-front job search/placement activity for the sole purpose of obtaining unsubsidized employment during which time the WFNJ county agency shall continue to process their application for WFNJ cash assistance. The EEI participation requirement is a minimum period of 15 days to a maximum period of 30 days or anytime after the 15 day minimum period when a final decision is reached on the client's WFNJ application (but not to exceed the 30-day maximum period). During the EEI participation period, the EEI family shall be eligible for an activity support payment, in accordance with the EEI Payment Schedule at (d) below, to cover employment-related expenses necessary to allow participation in the EEI, when such services are not available without charge from any other source. This activity support payment shall be based on identified job search/placement needs and shall not exceed the maximum activity support payment for the family size as indicated in the EEI Payment Schedule at (d) below.

i. If the WFNJ/TANF application was denied because of non-cooperation with EEI (see (a)1 above), and the family reapplies for WFNJ/TANF within 30 calendar days of that original WFNJ application date, any activity support payment provided to the family shall be considered as unearned income when determining WFNJ/TANF eligibility and calculating the WFNJ/TANF grant.

(c) When an EEI participant secures employment, the EEI entity shall determine whether or not the participant's gross earnings shall render the participant's family ineligible for WFNJ cash assistance by comparing the participant's gross earnings to earned income amount which the WFNJ agency entered on the "WFNJ Agency Referral to the EEI Entity" form.

1. If the EEI participant's gross earnings are equal to or less than the earned income amount indicated for that family on the referral form, the family may remain eligible for WFNJ cash assistance and the EEI entity shall refer the family to the WFNJ agency for a final determination of eligibility for cash assistance.

2. EEI participants who are successful in obtaining full-time unsubsidized employment and whose anticipated gross earnings, when combined with all other countable income available to the WFNJ assistance unit, exceed the earned income amount indicated for that family on the referral form, which exceeds the initial maximum allowable income eligibility level for WFNJ/TANF (Schedule I at 10:90-3.3(b) ) , shall be required to withdraw their family's WFNJ application for cash assistance. Before requiring the participant to initiate a withdrawal of the applicant family's WFNJ/TANF application, the EEI entity shall inquire whether any changes in the applicant family's assistance unit size or other countable income has occurred as of the date of the WFNJ application. If the participant states that changes have occurred, the EEI entity shall contact the WFNJ agency to ascertain the impact of such changes on the applicant family's WFNJ eligibility for cash assistance. If it is determined, by the WFNJ agency, that the changes reported by the EEI entity indicate that the applicant family may remain eligible for the WFNJ cash assistance, the EEI agency shall refer the participant back to the WFNJ agency for a final determination of eligibility for WFNJ cash assistance. If, however, the participant expresses that no changes have occurred since the date of the WFNJ application and the applicant family withdraws the WFNJ application, the participant's family shall be eligible to receive the following under the EEI, as appropriate:

i. A one-time lump sum payment to cover expenses necessary to avoid loss of housing or for other employment-related expenses necessary to enable the employed individual to continue to engage in his or her employment such as, but not limited to, transportation, uniforms, car maintenance, tools, supplies, licenses and testing fees. This one-time lump sum payment shall be provided to the family by the EEI entity based on specific need and shall not exceed the one-time lump sum payment ceiling for the participant's family size as designated in the EEI Payment Schedule at (d) below; and

ii. Up to two years of child care in accordance with the WFNJ child care services provisions at 10:90-5.2.

(d) The EEI Payment Schedule below identifies the activity support and one-time lump sum payment ceilings for EEI. These ceiling amounts are based on the WFNJ assistance unit size; therefore, the ceiling amounts shall remain constant even if more than one adult of the WFNJ applicant family is participating in EEI. The activity support payment and the one-time lump sum payment issued by the EEI entity shall not count toward the 60 month lifetime limit for receipt of WFNJ cash assistance.

1. The activity support payment ceiling represents the maximum amount an EEI family would be eligible to receive up front during the EEI participation period to cover any expenses necessary to allow participation in the job search/placement activity.

2. The one-time lump sum payment ceiling represents the lump sum amount an EEI family would be eligible to receive, when full-time employment is secured during the EEI participation period, to cover expenses necessary to avoid housing loss or for other employment related expenses to enable the employed individual(s) to continue to engage in his or her employment. The EEI entity shall explain to the participant that the one-time lump sum payment is being issued in lieu of public cash assistance.

i. If a family reactivates the WFNJ/TANF application within a 60 day period from the date of the original WFNJ/TANF application in accordance with the provisions for reactivation at (f) below, the lump sum payment issued to the family shall be prorated for a two month period and applied as unearned income when determining the family's WFNJ/TANF financial eligibility and calculating the WFNJ grant amount.

EEI PAYMENT SCHEDULE
Number in WFNJ	Activity Support	One-time Lump Sum
Assistance Unit	Payment Ceiling	Payment Ceiling
1	$ 350	$ 135
2	450	515
3	750	521
4	950	513
5	1,150	505
6	1,350	497
7	1,450	580
8	1,550	633

(e) An EEI participant shall be referred back to the WFNJ/TANF agency for WFNJ/TANF cash assistance when:

1. The EEI participant fully cooperates and participates in EEI as required and full-time unsubsidized employment is not found; or

2. Full-time employment is secured, however, the family continues to be considered financially eligible for WFNJ cash assistance because the participant's gross earnings combined with the family's other countable income is equal to or less than the WFNJ maximum allowable income eligibility level for the assistance unit, in accordance with 10:90-3.3 (Schedule I), and the family's countable income is less than the applicable WFNJ benefit level at 10:90-3.3 (Schedule II).

(f) Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary for a family, which has secured employment and has withdrawn its WFNJ/TANF application, to return to the WFNJ/TANF program for cash assistance. If the situation occurs within 60 days from the date of the original WFNJ application, the application shall be reactivated and the date of that original WFNJ application shall apply. Any of the following circumstances shall render the family eligible to reactivate its WFNJ/TANF application:

1. Child care services cannot be secured; or

2. The unsubsidized employment obtained while participating in EEI is no longer available, for reasons of good cause, in accordance with the good cause provisions under the WFNJ program at 10:90-4.10;

i. If the unavailability of the unsubsidized employment is due to a voluntary quit situation, the family shall not be eligible to reactivate its WFNJ/TANF application and shall be required to make reapplication to determine its eligibility for WFNJ/TANF cash assistance. At the time of reapplication, the individual who voluntarily quit the employment shall be subject to a 90-day voluntary quit penalty in accordance with 10:90-1.5. The other family members, however, shall be eligible to apply for cash assistance.

(g) If the WFNJ/TANF application is reactivated within 60 days of the original date of the WFNJ/TANF application, any lump sum payment amount received under EEI shall be prorated from the date of the original WFNJ/TANF application to the date the client contacted the WFNJ county agency for reactivation and subtracted from the WFNJ/TANF monthly grant amount(s) for which the assistance unit is eligible for that period of time. If the lump sum payment received under EEI is in excess of the family's monthly grant amount(s) for that period, the excess amount shall be counted as unearned income when calculating the WFNJ/TANF monthly grant amount for the assistance unit for any subsequent month.

(h) If the individual loses unsubsidized employment after 60 days from the date of the original WFNJ/TANF application, reapplication for WFNJ/TANF cash assistance shall be required.

(i) If a family experiences an emergency housing situation, in accordance with the emergency assistance provision at 10:90-6.1(b), while participating in EEI, the family shall immediately notify the EEI entity which in turn shall advise the client to return to the WFNJ agency for assistance. If the EEI participant is employed and an emergency situation occurs within 60 days from the original WFNJ/TANF application date, the family shall be eligible to reactivate its original WFNJ/TANF application. In all other instances in which the EEI family experiences an emergency situation, reapplication for WFNJ/TANF shall be required.

(j) Once a WFNJ/TANF adult participates in EEI, he or she may be considered an eligible candidate to repeat EEI participation if the county welfare agency determines that EEI participation would be beneficial in helping the client move toward self-sufficiency. An individual is considered suitable for participation in EEI at the county agency's discretion when determining subsequent eligibility.

(k) If the participant fails to cooperate with the terms of the EEI, in accordance with (a)1 above, without good cause (see good cause provisions at 10:90-4.10) , the EEI entity shall report the incident of noncooperation to the WFNJ agency by completing Form WFNJ/EEI-2, EEI Agency Report/Referral. Upon receipt of the EEI entity's report of noncooperation, the WFNJ agency shall review the report to determine if the EEI agency correctly determined noncooperation and, if appropriate, send an adequate notice in accordance 10:90-9.1, to the WFNJ/TANF family advising that the WFNJ/TANF application for cash assistance for the participant and the participant's entire family is being denied because of noncooperation with the EEI and reapplication for WFNJ/TANF shall be required. The notice shall also include the family's right to a fair hearing.

1. If a fair hearing is requested and scheduled, the county WFNJ agency shall notify the EEI entity of the scheduled hearing. The EEI entity shall arrange for the required attendance of the appropriate EEI representative at the scheduled hearing.

N.J. Admin. Code § 10:90-17.3

Amended by R.2000 d.205, effective 5/15/2000.
See: 32 N.J.R. 639(a), 32 N.J.R. 1771(a).
Inserted (b)2i.
Amended by R.2003 d.226, effective 6/16/2003.
See: 34 N.J.R. 2713(a), 35 N.J.R. 2670(a).
Rewrote (j).
Administrative correction.
See: 42 N.J.R. 2322(a).
Administrative change.
See: 44 N.J.R. 1529(a).