Rule 5101:4-3-13 | ABAWD work requirement and time-limited participation.
Every able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) is required to work twenty hours per week or they will lose eligibility for the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP). This rule describes the work requirement, the time-limit on receiving assistance for ABAWDs who do not work and the process for regaining SNAP eligibility after reaching the time-limit on participation.
(A) What is the ABAWD work requirement?
(1) For a total of at least twenty hours per week (eighty hours averaged monthly), every ABAWD is required to either:
(a) Engage in work.
For purposes of this rule, "work" includes:
(i) Working in exchange for (alone or in combination): money (paid work); goods or services (in-kind work); or verified unpaid work.
(ii) "Unpaid work" includes any activity where the individual performs something for no compensation and that benefits the community or a member of the community that does not reside with the individual. Unpaid work is subject to the verification requirements of rule 5101:4-2-09 of the Administrative Code.
(b) Participate in a work program.
For purposes of this rule, a work program includes:
(i) A program under Title 1 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Pub. L. No. 113-128, (07/2014);
(ii) A program under section 236 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. 2296, (06/2015);
(iii) A program of employment and training for veterans operated by the department of labor or the department of veterans affairs; or
(iv) The SNAP employment and training (E&T) program operated in accordance with the requirements and hourly limitations in Chapter 5101:4-9 of the Administrative Code.
(c) Participate in a combination of work and a work program.
(2) Verification of hours.
(a) An ABAWD is to use the JFS 07410 "ABAWD Verification of Unpaid Hours" to verify unpaid work hours used to fulfill the work requirement. The hours are to be verified at certification, recertification and anytime that an ABAWD reports a change in the nature of the work (e.g., hours, location, entity the work is performed for, etc.).
(b) A county agency is to verify paid employment hours and hours spent in a work program consistent with the requirements described in rule 5101:4-2-09 of the Administrative Code and verification is to be conducted at certification, recertification and anytime that an ABAWD reports they are fulfilling the work requirement through paid employment or a work program that has not already been verified.
(3) Each month that an ABAWD received a SNAP allotment for the entire month and failed to fulfill the ABAWD work requirement without good cause, is considered a "countable month."
(B) What is good cause for not fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement?
When a county agency determines that an individual would have fulfilled the ABAWD work requirement, but missed some hours for good cause, the individual is to be considered to have fulfilled the work requirement when the absence from work, and/or the work program is temporary.
Good cause is to include circumstances beyond the individual's control, such as, but not limited to:
(1) Illness (either their own or that of another assistance group member requiring the presence of the ABAWD individual);
(2) Assistance group emergency;
(3) Domestic violence; as defined in section 5107.02 of the Revised Code; or
(4) The unavailability of transportation.
(C) What is the consequence for not fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement without good cause?
(1) An ABAWD is not eligible to participate in SNAP as a member of any assistance group when the ABAWD has received benefits for three countable months during any thirty-six month period. The first month of the thirty-six month count begins during the first full month of benefits.
(2) The county agency is responsible for utilizing the Ohio benefits integrated eligibility system to enforce the ABAWD time-limit on participation.
(D) How does an individual regain eligibility after not fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement?
(1) When an individual is ineligible to participate in SNAP due to the ABAWD time-limit, but is otherwise eligible, they may regain SNAP eligibility by:
(a) Becoming exempt from the general work requirements or the ABAWD work requirement. The individual becomes eligible on the date of application (or the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP assistance group); or
(b) In the sixty days prior to the date of application (or the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP assistance group), completing a total of eighty hours of work or participation in a work program over thirty consecutive days. The individual becomes eligible on the date of application (or the date the individual requested to join an existing SNAP assistance group).
The SNAP E&T program is a work program reserved for SNAP recipients and is not a work program that can be used to regain SNAP eligibility due to a failure to comply with the ABAWD work requirement.
(2) Once in a thirty-six month period, an ABAWD may be eligible for an additional three consecutive months of SNAP eligibility after failing to meet the work requirement. When the county agency determines that an ABAWD who has regained SNAP eligibility in accordance with this rule has subsequently failed to meet the ABAWD work requirement, the county agency will determine if the ABAWD has received the additional three consecutive months of benefits in the past thirty-six months.
(a) When the county agency determines that the ABAWD has already received the three consecutive additional months of eligibility, the ABAWD is ineligible.
(b) When the county agency determines that the ABAWD has not yet received the three consecutive additional months of eligibility, the ABAWD is eligible for a period of three consecutive countable months starting on either:
(i) The date the individual first notifies the county agency that they are no longer fulfilling the ABAWD work requirement; or
(ii) When the individual has been satisfying the work requirement by participating in a SNAP E&T component, the date the county agency notifies the individual that they are no longer meeting the ABAWD work requirement.
Last updated October 1, 2024 at 9:30 AM
Supplemental Information
Amplifies: 329.04, 329.042, 5101.54
Five Year Review Date: 10/1/2029
Prior Effective Dates: 6/2/1980, 12/1/1980, 10/1/1981, 1/18/1982, 5/1/1982, 9/27/1982, 2/1/1985 (Emer.), 5/2/1985, 7/1/1987 (Emer.), 9/28/1987, 1/13/1988 (Emer.), 3/24/1988, 10/1/1988 (Emer.), 11/18/1988, 1/1/1989 (Emer.), 3/18/1989, 10/1/1990, 1/1/1991, 2/3/1992, 8/1/1994, 8/1/1995 (Emer.), 10/13/1995, 7/1/1996, 9/22/1996 (Emer.), 11/22/1996 (Emer.), 1/9/1997, 2/1/1997 (Emer.), 4/13/1997, 10/1/1997 (Emer.), 12/15/1997, 10/1/2001 (Emer.), 10/11/2001, 1/1/2004 (Emer.), 2/1/2004, 1/1/2006, 1/1/2009, 3/1/2011, 6/1/2013, 10/1/2013, 10/1/2016, 7/1/2017, 11/1/2019, 11/18/2021, 6/16/2022, 10/1/2023