Employment, Training and ESL Requirements for Employable RCA Recipients

Introduction

In order to receive RCA any refugee who is employable is required:

  1. to register for employment assistance, to conduct a job search and accept appropriate job offers, to participate in appropriate job training; and,

  2. to register for and participate in appropriate English language training.

Note that certain provisions of this part are the responsibility of the agencies that have contracts with the ORS to provide employment services to refugees (refugee employment service (RES) agencies or other employment service program). The responsibilities of the RES agencies or other employment service program are included in the manual because of the close working relationship that is necessary between these agencies and the county department.

Since refugees are eligible for RCA only during the first 12 months they are in the United States, it should be kept in mind that the provisions for employment, training and ESL will not be required of them after that time. The services of the RES agencies or other employment service program are nevertheless available to all refugees, whether employable recipients of RCA or not. Those who might benefit from these services should be encouraged to use them. Refugees not referred by a resettlement agency that have applied for RCA, must be referred to an employability service with an agency contracted through DHS or employment service program.

Prohibition Against Quitting Work to Receive Assistance

As a condition of eligibility for both RCA and RMA, an employable applicant shall not, have voluntarily quit employment or have refused to apply for or accept an offer of appropriate employment within thirty (30) consecutive calendar days. The dependent family of an ineligible applicant may, however, apply for and receive RCA and/or RMA. Exceptions may be granted if the eligibility case manager determines good cause.

Definition of Employable

A refugee is considered to be employable unless he/she falls within one of the following categories, as determined by the eligibility case manager:

  1. Under age sixteen (16); or under age eighteen (18) but a full-time student.

  2. Temporary illness, when determined by the eligibility case manager, on the basis of medical evidence or another sound basis that the injury or illness is serious enough to temporarily prevent entry into employment or training;

  3. Incapacitated, when determined by a physician or licensed or certified psychologist and verified by the eligibility case manager, that a physical or mental impairment, by itself or in conjunction with age, prevents the individual from engaging in employment or training;

  4. Age sixty-five (65) or older;

  5. A person whose presence is required in the home to care for another member of the household who is incapacitated (as described and verified in C. above);

  6. A parent or other caretaker relative of a child under age six who is caring for the child full-time;

  7. Working at least thirty (30) hours a week at minimum wage in unsubsidized employment expected to last at least 30 days. This exemption continues to apply if there is a temporary break in full-time employment expected to last no longer than ten workdays; or,

  8. A woman who is in her third trimester of pregnancy. A medical statement verifying the pregnancy and the expected date of delivery must be filed in the case record.

The inability to communicate in English does not, by itself, exempt a refugee from being defined as employable.

Registration for Employment Services

As a condition of receipt of RCA an employable refugee must register with one of the agencies providing RES or other employment service program before the application is approved. These contract agencies providing RES or other employment service program are listed in Section 165. The eligibility case manager will use Forms 198 (198 is Manpower form) to register the individual and communicate with the RES agencies or other employment service program. See instructions on Form 198 for referral and registration procedures.

In those counties that are not served by a RES contract agency or other employment, it is suggested that the eligibility case manager – or other county office personnel designated by the director – be utilized to administer this work requirement.

If the employable applicant fails to register, he or she will be excluded from the grant. If this applicant is the only one in the grant group, the application will be denied. If there are other people in the grant group, assistance may be approved for those individuals. The income of the ineligible employable applicant will be applied first to his or her needs and the remainder of the income will be applied to the eligible members of the grant group. Exceptions may apply to those in rural areas without employability service programs or those without accessible transportation.

Individual Employability Plan

Recipients of RCA are required to participate in the employment services provided by the RES agency or other employment service program, to carry out a job search, go to job interviews arranged by the agency, and to accept appropriate offers of employment.

The RES agency or other employment service program in consultation with the refugee will develop an individual employability plan for the refugee. This written plan must:

  1. Be designed to lead to the earliest possible employment and not be structured in such a way as to discourage or delay employment or job seeking.

  2. Contain a definite employment goal, attainable in the shortest time-period consistent with the employability of the refugee in relation to job openings in the area; and

  3. Enable the individual to meet the job search requirements of this section.

When it will help the recipient to gain employment, the individual employability plan may include short-term training. While engaged in such training, the recipient is not required to accept offers of employment or to participate in a job search. However, the recipient does remain registered with the RES or other employment service program and upon completion of the training course must resume his/her job search and must accept appropriate job offers.

Training must meet the following criteria:

  1. The training must be part of an individual employability plan and appropriate to the employment objectives of the plan. The training course may not exceed one year’s duration, including any time the refugee was enrolled in the program in the United States prior to applying for assistance. High school attendance may be an exception to this rule.

  2. The training must be likely to lead to employment that meets the standard of appropriate employment in this section.

  3. The training must be a short-term program with specific employment objectives.

  4. The quality of training must meet the requirements of local employers so that the individual will be able to find employment locally.

  5. The training must be limited to one of the following:

    1. Refresher training or recertification that will enable a professional to practice his or her profession in the United States.

    2. On-the-job training at a job site which will lead to permanent, full time, unsubsidized employment with the employer who is providing the training.

    3. Short-term vocational or technical training.

    4. High school may be considered training only if the recipient can reasonably expect to graduate within one year.

    5. Work or training assignments must not be made which are discriminatory in terms of age, sex, race, creed, color, or national origin.

Job Search Requirements

Each individual employability plan will include a systematic job search program that will be conducted under the supervision of the RES agency or other employment service program.

The job search program must begin no later than six months after the refugee enters the United States, or as soon as the refugee is certified for RCA if this takes place after the first six months in the United States.

The job search must be carried out for eight consecutive weeks unless the recipient becomes employed in less time.

The individual employability plan should specify the number of hours per week the recipient will spend in activity that is a reasonable part of searching for employment. The number of hours will not necessarily be the same for each individual.

English Language Requirements

Employable recipients of RCA are required to participate in English language training unless they are employed full time or proficient in English determined by ESL provider. However, an employable recipient who is enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction is not exempt from the job search requirement and must accept appropriate employment when it is offered.

As a condition of receipt of RCA an employable applicant must register for ESL classes.

DFCS Form 161 is given to all employable applicants. This form defines required attendance and exemptions from ESL. It is the eligibility case manager’s responsibility to ensure that the refugee understands the information on the form.

DFCS Form 162 shall be sent to the ESL provider for each employable refugee who applies for or receives RCA. The eligibility case manager will be notified by the provider on Form 162 as to the ESL status of the refugee.

Attendance requirements:

  1. A recipient must attend 75% of available ESL course hours in their county of residence if they are not employed or in full-time training.

  2. A recipient who is employed or in training part-time (less than 100 hours per month) must attend the difference between the total monthly hours of employment or training or 75% of the available ESL monthly hours; whichever is less, in their county of residence.

In most counties where refugees reside there is a program of ESL funded by the ORS. In those counties the available monthly hours are calculated based on the number of hours offered either in the daytime or the evening, whichever is greater. See the list of these contract agencies and the services they provide on Refugee Program Contract Agencies and Services.

In other counties the calculation of available monthly hours is based on the number of ESL hours offered by the county’s adult education program. If there is no such program, then the calculation is based on the number of hours offered by the program that the refugee can attend.

The eligibility case manager should refer employable applicants to the ESL program in their county of residence. Refugees may choose to attend ESL classes in another county, but their attendance requirements will be based on the number of hours available in their county of residence.

Each month the contract ESL providers will send the county DFCS a copy of their monthly report. The report includes the number of hours of instruction available at each site, the names of refugees and the number of hours each one attended during the month. The eligibility case manager will review the monthly ESL reports every three months to determine the recipient’s ESL status and continued eligibility for assistance. If the information is not available on the monthly attendance list, the eligibility case manager should send Form 162 to the ESL provider.

This form may also be used to obtain information from noncontract ESL providers.

The attendance check shall not begin with the month of enrollment in an ESL class unless the individual enrolled and began class on the first school day of the month. In that instance the eligibility case manager will consider the entire first month when determining ESL attendance.

Failure to attend the required number of monthly hours in ESL without good cause may result in a reduction of benefits or closure of the case.

Recipients of RCA who are not required to attend ESL classes as a condition of receiving assistance should nevertheless be encouraged by the eligibility case manager to get ESL instruction. Those employed full time may be able to attend weekend or evening classes. Those who are not “employable” may be able to attend one of the daytime classes or receive instruction from a volunteer providing ESL course hours.

Appropriate Work

For work to be appropriate it must be within the scope of the individual’s employment plan and must meet the following standards.

  1. Appropriate work may be temporary, permanent, full-time, part-time, or seasonal work if such work meets the other work standards of this instruction.

  2. The wage shall meet or exceed the federal or state minimum wage law, whichever is applicable. If such laws are not applicable, the wage shall not be less favorable than the wage normally paid for similar work in the local labor market. In no event shall it be less than three-fourths of the minimum wage rate.

  3. The daily hours of work and weekly hours of work shall not exceed those customary to the occupation.

  4. When childcare is necessary; the care must meet the standards required by the TANF Employment Services program.

  5. No individual shall be required to accept employment if:

    1. the position offered is vacant due to a strike, lockout, or other bona fide labor dispute; or

    2. the individual would be required to work for an employer contrary to the conditions of his or her existing membership in the union covering that occupation. However, employment not governed by rules of a union in which he or she has membership may be deemed appropriate.

Additional Standards

The following additional standards must be met before an employable RCA recipient can be required to accept a work or training assignment:

  1. The job or training assignment must be in keeping with the physical and mental capability of the individual to perform the task on a regular basis. Any claim of adverse effect on physical or mental health shall be based on an adequate medical report from a physician or licensed or certified psychologist indicating that participation would impair the individual’s physical or mental health.

  2. The total daily commuting time to and from home to the work or training site to which the individual is assigned shall not normally exceed 2 hours, not including the transporting of a child to and from a childcare facility. If a longer commuting distance and time is generally accepted in the community the round-trip commuting time shall not exceed the generally accepted community standards.

  3. The work or training site to which the individual is assigned must not be in violation of applicable federal, state, and local health and safety standards.

Criteria for Determining Refusal or Failure to Participate

The RES agency or other employment service program may determine that an employable RCA recipient has refused to participate in the employability requirements if one or more of the following circumstances occur:

  1. An individual, after two requests to appear, refuses or fails without good cause to appear for registration and appraisal.

  2. An individual fails, without good cause, to appear for a job interview when the referral was made as part of an individual employability plan and the job meets appropriate work criteria.

  3. An individual repeatedly fails to show up for work and/or RES or other employment service program interviews, appointments, ESL classes, etc., without an acceptable excuse.

  4. An individual seriously disrupts a RES or other employment service program activity or his/her behavior constitutes a threat or hazard to other participants.

  5. An individual possesses the required education, experience or aptitude to achieve in the assigned activity, but consistently, and without good cause, fails and or falls below the typical range of achievement of other participants.

  6. An individual quits his/her job without good cause or is fired for cause during the initial thirty (30) days of employment.

  7. An individual refuses to accept suitable childcare arrangements without good cause.

  8. An individual refuses to accept other services necessary to the assigned training or employment without good cause.

  9. An individual refuses or fails to participate in a job search without good cause.

Sanctions

When it has been determined that an employable recipient has refused to participate, as specified in the criteria above, the eligibility case manager will initiate sanction procedures.

The eligibility case manager will normally learn of the employable recipient’s refusal to participate in employment services when this fact is reported by the RES agency or other employment service program.

The eligibility case manager will normally learn of the employable recipient’s refusal to participate in ESL during the regular three (3) month reviews of the ESL contract provider’s attendance report.

Notification to the recipient:

  1. A ten (10) day advance notice of intent to terminate assistance will be sent to the recipient. This notice must specify the instances of refusal to participate upon which the notice is based, the consequences of continued refusal, and the recipient’s right to a fair hearing. Since refugees receiving RCA may not understand English well, it is the eligibility case manager’s responsibility to ensure that the recipient understands the notice.

  2. The eligibility case manager will initiate (either directly or, when it is appropriate, through the RES agency, other employment service program, the resettlement agency, or the recipient’s sponsor) counseling within seven days. The counseling should provide the client with an understanding of the consequences of refusing to participate and should be designed to encourage participation. The matter will be considered resolved when the eligibility case manager is satisfied that the client has resumed participation. This effort at conciliation may continue until it is clear that the matter cannot be resolved by conciliation; but in no case may it continue more than thirty days.

If the recipient requests it, a fair hearing will be held according to the procedures outlined in the TANF policy manual.

Application of Sanctions:

If the procedures outlined above fail to bring compliance with the employment, training and/or ESL requirements, the eligibility case manager will apply sanctions as follows:

  1. The sanctioned individual shall not be eligible for RCA during the following periods:

    1. for three payment-months after the first occurrence.

    2. for six payment-months after the second and subsequent occurrences.

  2. If the person sanctioned is the only individual in the assistance unit, the RCA grant shall be terminated.

  3. If the assistance unit includes other individuals, they will remain covered by the RCA grant. The needs of the sanctioned individual will be removed from the grant.

  4. If the recipient is a caretaker relative, assistance in the form of protective or vendor payments will be made to the remaining members of the assistance unit provided that a suitable protective payee can be found. If the eligibility case manager is unable to identify a suitable protective payee and prolonging the search may prove detrimental to other people in the assistance unit, the RCA check may be payable to the sanctioned individual provided that his or her needs have been removed from the RCA grant. The eligibility case manager’s efforts must be clearly documented in the case record and the waiver of protective payee assignment must be approved by the supervisor who will sign the documented case record entry.

  5. The refugee will be notified of the termination or reduction of the grant.

  6. After the sanction period, an employable refugee may reapply for RCA.