Ariz. Admin. Code § R6-12-317 - Voluntary Quit/reduction in Work Effort

A. The Department shall disqualify the member of the assistance unit or the assistance unit as described in subsections (B) and (C) when a member of an assistance unit, or the parent of a dependent child whose income is considered available to the assistance unit, within 60 days prior to the date of the application or any time thereafter, voluntarily and without good cause:

1. Terminates employment from a job in which the individual was:

a. Employed at least 20 hours a week,

b. Earning weekly income equal to the then current minimum wage multiplied by 20;

2. Reduces the number of hours worked each week from 30 or more to less than 30; or

3. Participates in a strike against the government, when the member is an employee of the local, state, or federal government.

B. When the member is the PI of the assistance unit, the Department shall close the case. The assistance unit of which the member remains the PI is ineligible for CA benefits for the minimum period specified in subsection (D) or until the assistance unit reapplies, whichever is longer.

C. When the member is not the PI of the assistance unit, the Department in determining eligibility and benefit level for the assistance unit for the minimum period specified in subsection (D) or until the assistance unit reapplies, whichever is longer, shall:

1. Exclude the needs of the member; and

2. Include the otherwise countable income, resources, and expenses of the member.

D. The minimum disqualification periods are:

1. For the first offense, one month;

2. For the second offense, three months; and

3. For the third and subsequent offenses, six months.

E. The Voluntary Quit/Reduction in Work Effort disqualification provisions shall apply to all members of the assistance unit who are not exempt from JOBS participation, as provided in R6-12-313 . A member who is exempt from participation in JOBS because of employment is not exempt from the Voluntary Quit/Reduction of Work Effort provisions due to JOBS employment.

F. Good cause for voluntarily quitting a job or reducing the number of hours worked includes:

1. Circumstances beyond the member's control, such as illness of another assistance unit member requiring the presence of the member, unavailability of transportation, unanticipated emergency, unsuitability of work, or the lack of adequate child care for individuals responsible for the care of children under 12 years old;

2. The member's inability to write or speak English;

3. Discrimination by an employer based on age, race, sex, color, handicap, religious beliefs, national origin, or political beliefs;

4. Work demands or conditions that render continued employment unreasonable, such as working without being paid on schedule;

5. Resignation by a member under age 60 who is recognized by the employer as retired;

6. Employment which becomes unsuitable by not meeting the suitability of work criteria listed in subsection (F)(9) after the acceptance of employment;

7. Acceptance of new employment of comparable hours and salary to the job which was quit, which, through no fault of the member, subsequently:

a. Does not materialize,

b. Results in a lay off,

c. Results in employment of less than 20 hours a week, or

d. Results in weekly earnings of less than the federal minimum wage multiplied by 20 hours;

8. Leaving a job in connection with patterns of employment in which workers frequently move from one employer to another such as migrant farm labor or construction work;

9. Employment that is unsuitable. Employment is unsuitable when the following conditions apply:

a. The wage offered is less than the higher of:

i. The federal minimum wage or the training wage, when applicable, if the employment is covered by federal regulations; or

ii. Eighty percent of the federal minimum wage when the employment is not covered by federal regulations;

b. The employment offered is on a piece-rate basis, and the average hourly yield which the employee can reasonably be expected to earn is less than the applicable hourly wage as specified above;

c. As a condition of employment, the employee is required to join, resign from, or refrain from joining any legitimate labor organization;

d. The work offered is at a site subject to strike or lockout, unless the strike has been enjoined under the Taft-Hartley Act (Section 208 of the Labor Management Relations Act, (29 U.S.C. 178)) or an injunction issued under section 10 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 160). A striker who belongs to a union may not refuse work solely because the job offered is a nonunion job;

10. An employment opportunity is unsuitable when an individual can demonstrate, or the Department finds that:

a. The degree of risk to the individual's health and safety is unreasonable;

b. The individual is physically or mentally incapable of performing the assigned tasks of employment as documented by medical evidence or reliable information obtained from other sources;

c. The distance of employment from the member's place of residence is unreasonable, with respect to the expected wage and the time and cost of commuting;

i. Employment is unsuitable if the commuting time exceeds two hours per day, exclusive of time required to transport a child to and from a child care facility.

ii. Employment is unsuitable when the distance prohibits walking, and neither public nor private transportation is available.

d. The working hours or type of employment interferes with the individual's religious observances, convictions, or beliefs.

Notes

Ariz. Admin. Code § R6-12-317

Adopted effective November 9, 1995 (Supp. 95-4). Section R6-12-317 renumbered to R6-12-320; new Section R6-12-317 adopted effective July 31, 1997, under an exemption from the provisions of A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6 (Supp. 97-3). Amended by exempt rulemaking at 16 A.A.R. 1141, effective July 1, 2010 (Supp. 10-2).

The following new Section was renumbered and amended under an exemption from the provisions of A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6, pursuant to Laws 1997, Ch. 300, § 74 (A). Exemption from A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6 means the Department did not submit notice of proposed rulemaking to the Secretary of State for publication in the Arizona Administrative Register; the Department did not submit these rules to the Governor's Regulatory Review Council for review and approval; and the Department was not required to hold public hearings on this Section.