WAC 388-444-0040 Work programs for ABAWDs in the Food Stamp Employment and Training Program.

Work programs are available to clients eighteen to fifty years of age who are able to work and have no dependents.

1. The following are considered work programs: 

   1. Workfare consists of:

      1. Thirty days of job search activities in the first month beginning with the first day of application or sixteen hours of volunteer work with a public or private nonprofit agency; and

      2. In subsequent months, sixteen hours per month of volunteer work with a public or private nonprofit agency allows the client to remain eligible for food stamps.  Workfare is not enforced community service or for paying fines or debts due to legal problems.

   2. Work experience (WEX) is supervised, unpaid work for at least twenty hours a week.   The work must be for a nonprofit agency or governmental or tribal entity.   This work is to improve the work skills of the client.

   3. On-the-job training (OJT) is paid employment for at least twenty hours a week.  It is job training provided by an employer at the employer's place of business and may include some classroom training time.

2. The department may not require you to participate more than one hundred twenty (120) hours per month in a work program, paid work, or a combination of activities.  ABAWDs may volunteer to participate in activities beyond one hundred twenty (120) hours per month.

3. The department may pay for some of a client's actual expenses needed for the client to participate in work programs. Standards for paying expenses are set by the department.