ABAWD Work Rules Disqualification Process

Overview

SNAP clients must follow the ABAWD Work Rules unless they are exempt. Non-exempt clients are disqualified from SNAP if they do not meet the rules for three months in a 36-month period (aka “the ABAWD Clock”). Clients get a strike for each month in which they are required to meet the rules but do not.

Clients with three strikes are ineligible for SNAP for the rest of the ABAWD Clock, unless they follow the steps for regaining eligibility.

The Strike Issuance Process

BEACON will automatically issue strikes if both of the following conditions are met:

The SNAP Work Rules Screening page:
1. has been completed,
2. lists the client as non-exempt, and
3. displays the client’s ABAWD Work Rules Start Date. View/HideView/Hide
ABAWD Work Rules participation has not been recorded in BEACON.

How you record participation depends on how the client is meeting. The table below summarizes how you must record participation after the client submits verification:

Participation Type	How to Record in BEACON
Working	Enter the hours using the procedures detailed in Entering, Changing, and Ending Earned Income in BEACON. To enter hours for in-kind/unpaid work or rental income, follow the steps in How Do I Enter Work Hours in BEACON.
Employment and Training (E&T)	You do not have to enter this information. This is handled by specialists at Central Office. The specialists will document the client’s E&T enrollment and participation by filling out the: ESP Referral Disposition page, ESP Activity Disposition page, and component start and end dates.
Community Service	Open the ABAWD Clock page. Mark the Volunteer Checkbox at the top of the page. Enter Start Date for participation. BEACON will automatically set the end date. Click Save. Wrap the case.

Participation Type

How to Record in BEACON

Working

Enter the hours using the procedures detailed in Entering, Changing, and Ending Earned Income in BEACON.

To enter hours for in-kind/unpaid work or rental income, follow the steps in How Do I Enter Work Hours in BEACON.

Employment and Training (E&T)

You do not have to enter this information. This is handled by specialists at Central Office. The specialists will document the client’s E&T enrollment and participation by filling out the:

ESP Referral Disposition page,
ESP Activity Disposition page, and
component start and end dates.

Community Service

Open the ABAWD Clock page.
Mark the Volunteer Checkbox at the top of the page.
Enter Start Date for participation. BEACON will automatically set the end date.
Click Save. Wrap the case.

See ABAWD Work Rules Participation for more information.

Monthly Batch to Track Participation

If BEACON lists the client as non-exempt, BEACON will run a batch every month to check if the client met the rules.

BEACON will start tracking participation after the ABAWD Work Rules Start Date. The batch will run eight days (or nine if the eighth day is not a business day) after the 5th of each month. Example: Start Date is 08/01/2025, first batch runs on 09/13/2025.

If the batch detects that participation has not been recorded, BEACON will issue a strike. BEACON will send the client a warning notice when they get their first and/or second strike.

Important: If the batch detects that participation was recorded, BEACON will not apply the batch to the client for the rest of the certification period. You must record participation as soon as you receive verification. See ABAWD Work Rules Participation for more details on participation verification.

Automatic Disqualification After 3 Strikes

BEACON will disqualify the client after three strikes. The Ineligibility/Closing Reason will be: Fail to comply with SNAP Work Program requirements. BEACON will only apply this disqualification to the client, not the entire household.

BEACON will initiate the disqualification 10 days before the Release Date associated with the grantee’s SSN. BEACON will send an ABAWD Third Strike Closing Notice and the standard EBC notice.

BEACON may initiate the disqualification a short time after issuing the second strike. This is to prevent the client from receiving a fourth month of SNAP benefits after they did not meet the ABAWD Work Rules for a third month. This is also to give the client adequate notice before the case closes or benefits decrease.

Note: Strikes only apply to full months. DTA cannot issue a strike for a prorated month. For example, a client cannot get a strike for April if they only received SNAP from 04/10/2025 through 04/30/2025. The client only received SNAP for 20 days in April.

Example of Participation Tracking Process

The example below illustrates the timeline of this process:

Date	Activity
06/15/2024	Ralph (he/him) applies for SNAP for the first time. He is a household of 1. His SSN ends in 4. Staff determine that Ralph is non-exempt. BEACON sets Ralph’s ABAWD Work Rules start date to 08/01/2024.
07/15/2024	Day 30. Ralph has not verified participation. Staff approve Ralph’s application without this verification.
08/01/2024	Ralph must start following the ABAWD Work Rules.
09/13/2024	Proof of participation still missing. BEACON issues first strike. Strike is for not meeting during the month of August.
10/15/2024	Proof of participation still missing. BEACON issues second strike. Strike is for not meeting during the month of September.
10/21/2024	BEACON issues a third strike for not meeting during the month of October. This disqualifies Ralph for the Reason: Fail to comply with SNAP Work Program requirements. This also closes the case because Ralph is the only member of his SNAP household. The Release Date for the closure is 10/31/2024.
11/06/2024	Disqualification becomes effective in BEACON. Case is closed.

What if the Disqualified Client has Income and/or Expenses?

If a non-exempt client:

gets disqualified for not meeting the ABAWD Work Rules,
has income and/or expenses, and
is part of a multi-person SNAP household,

BEACON will count only part of that client’s income and/or expenses for the rest of the household. BEACON will:

Divide the disqualified client’s income by the total number of household members.
The total number of household members includes:
1. the disqualified client,
2. eligible household members, and
3. any other disqualified household members, such as ineligible students or noncitizens.
Multiply the result of Step 1 by the total number of eligible household members.
The total number of eligible household members includes only the people in the household who have not been disqualified for any reason.
Divide the disqualified client’s expenses by the total number of household members.
The disqualified client’s expenses include only expenses that they do not share with other household members. Example: legal child support payments.
These expenses do not include the standard utility allowance or medical expenses.
Multiply the result of Step 3 by the total number of eligible household members.
Recalculate the SNAP benefit with the disqualified client removed from the household.
BEACON will use the result from Step 2 as the household’s countable income and the result from Step 4 as the household’s countable expenses.

The calculation is summarized below:

Example

Luna (she/her) receives SNAP with her mother, Ethel (she/her), and her father, Harold (he/him). Luna works and earns $75 per week. Ethel receives RSDI of $1,400 per month. Harold has no income. Ethel pays the full rent of $800 per month. Luna and Ethel split the utility bills, which are billed separately from the rent. Luna also pays $60 per month for legally-obligated child support. Luna is disqualified for not meeting the AWR.

Step	Example
Divide the disqualified client’s income by the total number of household members.	Luna’s income is $75 per week. $75 x 4.333 = $324.98 (monthly income) There are 3 household members (Luna, Ethel, and Harold). $324.98/3=$108.33
Multiply the result of Step 1 by the total number of eligible household members.	There are 2 eligible household members (Ethel and Harold; Luna is disqualified for not meeting the rules). $108.33 x 2=$216.65
Divide the disqualified client’s expenses by the total number of household members.	Luna’s child support expense is $60 per month. $60/3=$20
Multiply the result of Step 3 by the total number of eligible household members.	$20 x 2=$40
Recalculate the SNAP benefit with Luna removed from the household using: $216.65 as the household’s countable earned income, and $40 as the child support deduction.	This results in a SNAP benefit of $464 per month. See the chart below. This example is accurate as of the 2025 COLA.

View/HideView/Hide

What if the Client had Good Cause for Not Meeting the ABAWD Work Rules?

You must remove a strike if a client had good cause for not meeting the ABAWD Work Rules during that month. The steps for removing strikes are detailed in ABAWD Clock Page.

Examples of good cause include (but are not limited) to:

Child Care Is Unavailable
Crisis of Emergency Situation
Unreasonable Employment
Unavailability of Transportation

For more information, see Good Cause Criteria for Not Complying with the ABAWD Work Rules.

How Can Clients with Three Strikes Regain Eligibility?

Clients with three strikes can regain eligibility for SNAP if:

they become exempt;
they start meeting the Work Rules;
the ABAWD Clock resets;
you determine that one or more strikes are incorrect; or
they previously met the rules for 30 consecutive days while disqualified.

For more information on regaining, see ABAWD Work Rules Regaining Process.