Individuals’ GROW participation will be tracked throughout the program. Participants who fail to comply with any required activity will be scheduled for a termination hearing. If there is no good cause for noncompliance, aid will be discontinued and sanction imposed resulting in progressive periods of ineligibility (0, 30, or 60 days).

On the first occurrence of a sanction, the participant will receive a warning, but can reapply without a penalty, assuming he/she cooperates with the program’s requirements. On the second occurrence, the case will again be discontinued, but this time a 30-day period of ineligibility will be imposed. Subsequent occurrences will also result in termination, followed by a 60-day period of ineligibility.

• In most instances, the GROW computer system automatically initiates noncompliance actions for participants who fail to comply with any activity, sends a Notice of Action, and schedules a termination hearing with the GR Hearing Officer.

• Noncompliance action is initiated by the Case Manager whenever a participant:

• Refuses a job offer,
• Refuses a job referral,
• Refuses to attend an employer interview,
• Quits a job,
• Is fired from a job, 
• Fails to attend a GROW site recruitment event, or
• Fails to fully comply with the requirements of a GROW activity that could result in employment for the participant (e.g. participant fails to dress in appropriate attire to seek employment after referral to the Clothing Closet has been made and/or work-related expenses to purchase clothing has been issued).

• When an appointment is manually generated by the Case Manager, and the participant does not show for the appointment, the system will automatically initiate noncompliance.
  
  
• Noncompliance is initiated on the GROW computer system through the “Manual Noncompliance” (MNC) component. When a MNC component is created, the GROW system sends a NOA and schedules a pre-termination hearing with the Hearing Officer.
  
  
• When a participant is in noncompliance, the system will generate a termination NOA which includes the date/time for a hearing with the GR Hearing Officer at the District Office. The Hearing Officer will conduct the hearing in accordance with established procedures as outlined in the GR Program Policy on the internet.

• The Hearing Officer will contact the Case Manager to obtain any required information in order to conduct a fair hearing. He/She will inform the Case Manager of the hearing outcome. If good cause was determined, the Case Manager will schedule another appointment when appropriate in order to reassign the participant to the last GROW activity assigned to the participant prior to the noncompliance, or make a referral to the next GROW activity. For a list of good cause reasons, see GR Program Policy section 41-412.
  
  If the GR Hearing Officer determined that the participant did not have good cause, the sanction is upheld as indicated below.

• The first instance of noncompliance results in a 0-day sanction. If the individual agrees to participate, he/she is returned to his/her previous activity or is reassigned to a new activity and signs a new ABP 1463, Activity Agreement, accordingly.

• The second instance of noncompliance in a 365-day period results in a 30-day sanction. The participant may reapply for aid after the sanction period ends.
  
  
• The third and any subsequent instance(s) of noncompliance in a 365-day period result in a 60-day sanction. The participant may reapply for aid after the sanction period ends.
  
  
• When the participant fails to appear for the hearing or contact the Hearing Officer by the third Thursday following suspension, all issues remain unresolved, and aid will remain discontinued. Individuals who contact the Hearing Officer after the third Thursday (following suspension) are to be referred back through the application process.
  
  
• When the participant appears for the hearing at a GROW site, rather than a GR District Office, GROW Hearings must be conducted by staff working at the level of GAIN Services Supervisor or above, who were not directly involved in the original decision to terminate or reduce aid.
  
  
• The GR Hearing Officer is responsible for the resolution of GROW-related noncompliance issues and for notifying the participant, at the conclusion of the hearing, or the outcome. The GR Hearing Officer is responsible for conducting the hearing in an impartial manner following the guidelines established by GR Policy Section 44-000.

• Initiates noncompliance process on GROW, creating a MNC component, whenever a participant fails to follow through on employment opportunities.

• Assists the Hearing Officer by providing all relevant information to be considered for the corresponding good cause determination.

• If the participant is at an offsite GROW office, instead of the district office, the case manager must notify the GAIN Services Supervisor. GROW Hearings at offsite GROW offices must be conducted by staff, working at the level of GAIN Services Supervisor or above, who were not directly involved in the original decision to terminate or reduce aid.
  
  
• Receives the good cause determination from the GR Hearing Officer and updates the GROW computer system as appropriate.
  
  
• If there was good cause or there was no good cause with a “0” sanction and the individual agrees to participate, the participant will be returned to the previous GROW activity or reassigned to another activity as appropriate, having a new ABP 1463 signed.

EXCEPTION:  If the good cause was due to a physical/mental impairment, the Case Manager will receive appropriate notification from the Hearing Officer, and will control for receipt of physical/mental assessment from the EW within thirty days. If, as a result, the participant is no longer employable, no other action is necessary. If the assessment indicates that the participant is still employable, the Case Manager will schedule an appointment in order for the participant to resume participation in GROW.

• Must be an individual at the level of Eligibility Supervisor or above.



• Cannot be the same person who imposed the sanction.



• Upon receipt of the ABP 592:

• Thoroughly reviews the ABP 592 and all documentation provided by the participant or his/her representative.



• Makes a final determination as to whether good cause for noncompliance exists and follows up accordingly.



• Signs and provides copy of the ABP 592 to the GROW Case Manager.

Upon completion of noncompliance process, the Hearing Officer will provide the Case Manager with information regarding the hearing outcome, which should include:

• The participant's aid was resumed and he/she was referred back to the Case Manager to be returned to his/her activity or be reassigned to another activity; or
  
  
• The participant was referred to the Eligibility Worker for a physical/mental evaluation; or
  
  
• The noncompliance issue could not be resolved and aid remained terminated.