Excused absences allow a Temporary Assistance (TA) recipient to “miss” participation in a work activity and have those absent hours included in their work participation requirement. A TA recipient is allowed a total of 80 hours per 12-month period and 16 hours in a month. The first 16 hours absent in a given federal month are excused. These excused hours are counted as meeting their work participation requirements.
Once the TA recipient misses 16 hours in a month or 80 hours per year, the absence is unexcused. Hours exceeding these amounts (16 hours in the month/80 hours in a year) do not count as meeting work participation requirements.
Record excused absences for unpaid work activities in the MWA System. Refer to the MWA System User Guide for information on entering excused absences for unpaid work activities.
Excused absences for paid work activities are included in the TA recipient’s pay, and should not be recorded separately in the MWA System. They are recorded as part of the actual hours the TA recipient was engaged in the paid work activity. Refer to the MWA System User Guide for information on entering actual hours.
Excused absences are allowed for the following activities:
- Subsidized private and public sector employment
- Work experience
- OJT
- Job search/job readiness
- Community Service program
- Job skills training
- Vocational Education and Training
- Education directly related to employment
- Satisfactory attendance at secondary school
Example:
- Ms. D stays home on January 2nd for 8 hours with the flu. This is an excused absence.
- MS. D stays home on January 10th for 8 hours to go to the mall. This is an excused absence.
- Ms. D stays home on January 13th with a sick child. This is not an excused absence.
Missouri Work Assistance (MWA) case managers must counsel the recipient on appropriate reasons for not attending work or other activities in standard soft skills or workplace training sessions.
NOTE: Do not tell TA recipients about excused absences. Encourage recipients to attend all scheduled work participation activity hours.