7 AAC 45.260. Work activities

(a) Under AS 47.27.035 (a), the department will assign work activities, not to exceed 40 hours a week, to a recipient before or after the recipient has received a total of 24 months of assistance, as department staff availability and financial resources allow.

(b) Under AS 47.27.035 (b), the department will exempt from the work activities requirement for up to 12 months a single custodial parent or caretaker with one or more children under age 12 months. The parent or caretaker may receive the exemption for a cumulative total of 12 months, regardless of the number of children living with that parent or caretaker or the period of time that the parent or caretaker receives assistance under AS 47.27. This exemption does not apply to a minor parent who is required by AS 47.27.027 (a)(3) to maintain attendance in a secondary school or other appropriate training program. The department will also exempt from the work activities requirement a parent or caretaker described in AS 47.27.035 (c). The exemption provided in AS 47.27.035 (c)(2) is applicable only to the extent that the medical reasons prevent the parent or caretaker from participating in the work activities. The documentation required by AS 47.27.035 (c)(2) must be submitted on a form provided, or in a format specified, by the department.

(c) The department may require an individual who is subject to the work activities requirement in AS 47.27.035 to drop or modify a personal activity, such as vocational training or post-secondary education, if the department determines that pursuit of the activity interferes with the individual's participation in an activity assigned in the FSSP developed under AS 47.27.030 . The department may impose a penalty under 7 AAC 45.980 upon an individual who refuses to drop or modify the personal activity.

(d) The department will consider the availability of subsidized or unsubsidized work before assigning a recipient to job sampling or community service work.

(e) The department may provide a work activities participant with opportunities for subsidized work. For a participant engaged in subsidized work, the department may provide the ATAP family's benefit amount, or a portion of that amount, to the employer as part of the paid wage. Subsidized wages must be paid at the same rate as for other employees doing comparable work; any wages higher than the ATAP benefit must be paid by the employer. Placement of a participant in subsidized work must comply with AS 23.10.050 - 23.10.150 (Alaska Wage and Hour Act).

(f) The department will determine the number of job sampling, community service work, and subsidized work hours actually performed by a recipient in a calendar month according to methods established by the department. The department may limit the length of a recipient's placement at a sponsoring location to a specified period in order not to interfere with the recipient's availability for unsubsidized work. When assigning a recipient to job sampling, community service work, or subsidized work, the department will assure that the assignment does not cause any of the following:

(1) displacement of any currently employed worker, including partial displacement through a reduction in overtime hours, wages, or benefits;

(2) imposition of fines or penalties against a participant by a labor union;

(3) prevention of filling a vacancy with an employee in layoff status from a similar position;

(4) filling of a vacancy created by a layoff or a reduction in force.

(g) An employee at a work location to which an ATAP recipient has been assigned under this section may, within 30 days after the assignment, file an oral or written grievance with the department, if the employee has a claim that the assignment of the ATAP recipient violated the assignment standards set out in (f) of this section. The department will, within 15 days after receiving the grievance, offer the employee filing the grievance an opportunity to be heard in an informal hearing before staff of the department division that is responsible for administering the ATAP program under this chapter. If the staff finds the grievance valid, the department will terminate the recipient's assignment at that location. If the employee disagrees with the staff decision, the employee may appeal the decision to the division director. The director shall accept written evidence and arguments submitted by the employee and the staff, and may on the director's own motion hold an oral hearing. The director shall issue a final agency decision within 30 days after the written record is closed.

(h) In AS 47.27.035 ,

(1) "appropriate child care" means care by a child care provider who is at a location that is within 30 minutes travel time, by public or private transportation, from the participant's home or activity site, who is willing to take care of the participant's child, and who appears to have the ability to take care of children of the same age and development level as the participant's child;

(2) "available" means located in the family's community, and the family has sufficient income or access to assistance through a subsidy program to pay the cost.

(i) In this section and in AS 47.27.900 ,

(1) "community service work" means an activity assigned or approved by the department that achieves a useful public purpose and contributes to the common good of the community, including subsistence activities;

(2) "education" includes job-retention education and participation in workshops that provide skills needed to compete for and obtain paid employment;

(3) "job readiness" means the state of either having a job or of being prepared to take one, such as by having work and interviewing skills, knowledge, an understanding of work ethics, and arrangements for any needed child care;

(4) "job sampling" means an activity assigned by the department that achieves a useful public purpose and provides the participant with the opportunity to

(A) learn, improve, or apply job skills;

(B) enhance the participant's employability by acquiring recent work experience and employer references;

(D) refurbish publicly assisted housing;

(5) "job search" means an activity that directly contributes to obtaining paid employment, such as by registering with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, distributing resumes, participating in a job club, and contacting prospective employers;

(6) "subsidized work" means an activity for which a wage is paid to the participant and is financed, in whole or in part, by ATAP money or another government-financed employment, training, or social services program;

(7) "unsubsidized work" means an activity for which a wage is paid to the participant and is not financed in whole or in part by ATAP money or another government-financed employment, training, or social services program; unsubsidized work may be provided to a governmental employer;

(8) "vocational training" means an organized educational program designed to prepare a participant for paid employment and that leads to the acquisition of specialized knowledge, abilities, or job skills; "vocational training" may include a program of remedial, basic skills, or literacy training that is a prerequisite to occupation-specific training or necessary for success in work search or work performance;

(9) "work" means an activity that produces earned income as described in 7 AAC 45.375.

(j) In this section,

(1) "personal activity" means an activity that the individual entered into without the activity being developed in FSSP;

(2) "subsistence activities" means the noncommercial, customary, and traditional harvest of wild, renewable resources for use as food, shelter, fuel, clothing, tools, or transportation;

(3) "useful public purpose" refers to services rendered with or without charge to the public, other than service related to

(A) religious proselytism or evangelism;

(B) partisan or non-partisan political activity or campaigns; or

History: Eff. 8/5/92, Register 123; am 10/1/93, Register 127; am 7/28/95, Register 135; am 7/1/97, Register 142; am 12/7/2002, Register 164; am 1/7/2005, Register 173

Authority: AS 47.05.010

Editor's note: As of Register 151 (October 1999), the regulations attorney made technical revisions under AS 44.62.125 (b)(6) to reflect the name change of the Department of Labor to the Department of Labor and Workforce Development made by ch. 58, SLA 1999 and the corresponding title change of the commissioner of labor.

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