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256J.67 COMMUNITY WORK EXPERIENCE.
    Subdivision 1. Establishing the community work experience program. To the extent of
available resources, each county agency may establish and operate a work experience component
for MFIP caregivers who are participating in employment and training services. This option for
county agencies supersedes the requirement in section 402(a)(1)(B)(iv) of the Social Security Act
that caregivers who have received assistance for two months and who are not exempt from work
requirements must participate in a work experience program. The purpose of the work experience
component is to enhance the caregiver's employability and self-sufficiency and to provide
meaningful, productive work activities. The county shall use this program for an individual after
exhausting all other employment opportunities. The county agency shall not require a caregiver to
participate in the community work experience program unless the caregiver has been given an
opportunity to participate in other work activities.
    Subd. 2. Commissioner's duties. The commissioner shall assist counties in the design and
implementation of these components.
    Subd. 3. Employment options. (a) Work sites developed under this section are limited to
projects that serve a useful public service such as: health, social service, environmental protection,
education, urban and rural development and redevelopment, welfare, recreation, public facilities,
public safety, community service, services to aged or disabled citizens, and child care. To the
extent possible, the prior training, skills, and experience of a caregiver must be considered in
making appropriate work experience assignments.
(b) Structured, supervised volunteer work with an agency or organization, which is
monitored by the county service provider, may, with the approval of the county agency, be used as
a work experience placement.
(c) As a condition of placing a caregiver in a program under this section, the county agency
shall first provide the caregiver the opportunity:
(1) for placement in suitable subsidized or unsubsidized employment through participation in
a job search; or
(2) for placement in suitable employment through participation in on-the-job training, if such
employment is available.
    Subd. 4. Employment plan. (a) The caretaker's employment plan must include the length of
time needed in the work experience program, the need to continue job-seeking activities while
participating in work experience, and the caregiver's employment goals.
(b) After each six months of a caregiver's participation in a work experience job placement,
and at the conclusion of each work experience assignment under this section, the county agency
shall reassess and revise, as appropriate, the caregiver's employment plan.
(c) A caregiver may claim good cause under section 256J.57, subdivision 1, for failure to
cooperate with a work experience job placement.
(d) The county agency shall limit the maximum number of hours any participant may work
under this section to the amount of the MFIP standard of need divided by the federal or applicable
state minimum wage, whichever is higher. After a participant has been assigned to a position for
nine months, the participant may not continue in that assignment unless the maximum number of
hours a participant works is no greater than the amount of the MFIP standard of need divided by
the rate of pay for individuals employed in the same or similar occupations by the same employer
at the same site. This limit does not apply if it would prevent a participant from counting toward
the federal work participation rate.
History: 1997 c 85 art 1 s 54; 1999 c 245 art 6 s 78; 1Sp2001 c 9 art 10 s 66

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes