A. The following qualify as work activities:
(1) unsubsidized employment, including self-employment;
(2) subsidized private sector employment, including self-employment;
(3) subsidized public sector employment;
(4) work experience;
(5) on-the-job training;
(6) job search and job readiness;
(7) community service programs;
(8) vocational education;
(9) job skills training activities directly related to employment;
(10) education directly related to employment;
(11) satisfactory attendance at a secondary school or course of study leading to a high school equivalency credential in the case of a participant who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate; and
(12) the provision of child care services to a participant who is participating in a community service program.
B. The department shall recognize community service programs and job training programs that are operated by an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo.
C. The department may not require a participant to work more than four hours per week over the work requirement rate set pursuant to the federal act.
D. The department shall require a parent, caretaker or other adult who is a member of a benefit group to engage in a work activity.
E. Where best suited for the participant to address barriers, the department may require the following work activities:
(1) participating in parenting classes, money management classes or life skills training;
(2) participating in a certified alcohol or drug addiction program;
(3) in the case of a homeless benefit group, finding a home;
(4) in the case of a participant who is a victim of domestic violence residing in a domestic violence shelter or receiving counseling or treatment or participating in criminal justice activities directed at prosecuting the domestic violence perpetrator for no longer than twenty-four weeks; and
(5) in the case of a participant who does not speak English, participating in a course in English as a second language.
F. Subject to the availability of funds, the department in cooperation with the workforce solutions department, Indian affairs department and other appropriate state agencies may develop projects to provide for the placement of participants in work activities, including the following:
(1) participating in unpaid internships with private and government entities;
(2) refurbishing publicly assisted housing;
(3) volunteering at a head start program or a school;
(4) weatherizing low-income housing; and
(5) restoring public sites and buildings, including monuments, parks, fire stations, police buildings, jails, libraries, museums, auditoriums, convention halls, hospitals, buildings for administrative offices and city halls.
G. If a participant is engaged in full-time vocational education studies or an activity set out in Paragraphs (9) through (11) of Subsection A of this section, the participant shall engage in another work activity at the same time. Additionally, for two-parent families that receive federally funded child-care assistance, the participant's spouse shall engage in a work activity set out in Paragraphs (1) through (5) or (7) of Subsection A of this section unless the participant suffers from a temporary or complete disability that bars the participant from engaging in a work activity or the participant is barred from engaging in a work activity because the participant provides sole care for a person with a disability.
H. A participant engaged in vocational education studies shall make reasonable efforts to obtain a loan, scholarship, grant or other assistance to pay for costs and tuition, and the department shall disregard those amounts in the eligibility determination.
I. For as long as the described conditions exist, the following are exempt from the work requirement:
(1) a participant barred from engaging in a work activity because the participant has a temporary or permanent disability;
(2) a participant over age sixty;
(3) a participant barred from engaging in a work activity because the participant provides the sole care for a person with a disability;
(4) a single custodial parent caring for a child less than twelve months old for a lifetime total of twelve months;
(5) a single custodial parent caring for a child under six years of age if the parent is unable to obtain child care for one or more of the following reasons:
(a) unavailability of appropriate child care within a reasonable distance from the parent's home or work as defined by the children, youth and families department;
(b) unavailability or unsuitability of informal child care by a relative under other arrangements as defined by the children, youth and families department; or
(c) unavailability of appropriate and affordable formal child-care arrangements as defined by the children, youth and families department;
(6) a pregnant woman during her last trimester of pregnancy;
(7) a participant prevented from working by a temporary emergency or a situation that precludes work participation for thirty days or less;
(8) a participant who demonstrates by reliable medical, psychological or mental reports, court orders or police reports that family violence or threat of family violence effectively bars the participant from employment; and
(9) a participant who demonstrates good cause of the need for the exemption.
J. As a condition of the exemptions identified in Subsection I of this section, the department may establish participation requirements specific to the participant's condition or circumstances, such as substance abuse services, mental health services, domestic violence services, pursuit of disability benefits, job readiness or education directly related to employment. The activities are established to improve the participant's capacity to improve income and strengthen family support.
History: Laws 1998, ch. 8, § 5 and Laws 1998, ch. 9, § 5; 1999, ch. 269, § 1; 2007, ch. 46, § 18; 2007, ch. 350, § 3; 2015, ch. 122, § 14.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, replaced the term "certificate of general equivalency" with "high school equivalency credential" and "labor department" with "workforce solutions department" in the provision relating to work requirements for participants in the New Mexico Works Act; in Paragraph (11) of Subsection A, after "study leading to a", deleted "certificate of general" and added "high school", and after "equivalency", added "credential"; in Subsection F, after "cooperation with the", deleted "labor" and added "workforce solutions"; and in Subsection G, after "provides sole care for a", deleted "disabled", and after "person" added "with a disability".
The 2007 amendment, effective June 15, 2007, eliminated the qualifying language in Subsection A relating to work experience, job search and job readiness, vocational education and education directly related to employment; eliminated the qualifying language in Subsection D relating to readiness for work or receipt of cash assistance or services; changed the list in Subsection E from temporary alternative work activities that may be established for no longer than twelve weeks to work activities that may be suited to address barriers; changed "post-secondary education" to "vocational education"; and added Subsection J.
The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, inserted "including self-employment" at the end of Subsections A(1) and A(2).
Refusal to comply with regulations terminates eligibility. — Where an applicant for public assistance refuses to comply with regulations requiring assignment of support rights, she may not maintain her eligibility for aid to families with dependent children benefits. The department's refusal to provide such benefits on that basis is in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Melton v. N.M. Dep't of Human Servs., 1981-NMCA-130, 97 N.M. 102, 637 P.2d 52.
Denial of benefits where natural father could provide support. — Substantial evidence in the record as a whole supported the human services department's denial of aid to families with dependent children benefits where the natural father could provide support. N.M. Human Servs. Dep't v. Garcia, 1980-NMSC-025, 94 N.M. 175, 608 P.2d 151.