Oregon Revised Statutes Chapter 411 § 411.892 — Employer eligibility; job requirements; program participant eligibility;

Employer eligibility; job requirements; program participant eligibility; termination of participation; job assignment; exemptions; wages; reimbursement of employers. (1)(a) All employers, including public and private sector employers within the State of Oregon, are eligible to participate in the JOBS Plus Program. The Department of Human Services shall adopt by rule a method to disqualify employers from participating in the program. No employer is required to participate in the JOBS Plus Program. In the event that there are unassigned participants whom no employer desires to utilize, the participants may be assigned to work for a public agency. (b) The maximum number of program participants that any employer is authorized to receive at any one time may not exceed 10 percent of the total number of the employer’s employees. However, each employer may receive one participant. The Director of Human Services may waive the limit in special circumstances. (c) The Department of Human Services by rule shall establish criteria for excluding employers from participation for failure to abide by program requirements, showing a pattern of terminating participants prior to the completion of training or other demonstrated unwillingness to comply with the stated intent of the program. (2) The Department of Human Services shall ensure that jobs made available to program participants: (a) Do not require work in excess of 40 hours per week; (b) Are not used to displace regular employees or to fill unfilled positions previously established; and (c) Do not pay a wage that is substantially less than the wage paid for similar jobs in the local economy with appropriate adjustments for experience and training. (3)(a) Eligibility for the program shall be limited to residents who are: (A) Adults and caretaker relatives who are receiving temporary assistance for needy families benefits; (B) Adult Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients except as described in subsection (5)(b) of this section; and (C) Unemployed noncaretaker parents of children who are receiving temporary assistance for needy families benefits. (b) In addition to those residents eligible for the program under paragraph (a) of this subsection, additional residents who are seeking employment may be eligible for the program if there are legislatively allocated funds available in the temporary assistance for needy families budget of the Department of Human Services. (4)(a) Individuals desiring work through the program shall contact the nearest Department of Human Services office serving the county in which they reside if they are temporary assistance for needy families program or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applicants or recipients or noncustodial parents of individuals receiving temporary assistance for needy families. (b) With the assistance of the local JOBS Plus Implementation Councils, the Department of Human Services shall develop a job inventory of sufficient size to accommodate all of the participants who desire to work in the program. In consultation with the participant, the department shall try to match the profile of each participant with the needs of an employer when assigning a participant to work with the employer. (c) Either the employer or the participant may terminate the assignment by contacting the appropriate Department of Human Services office. In such event, the Department of Human Services shall reassess the needs of the participant and assign the participant to another JOBS Plus Program placement or another job opportunity and basic skills program component and, at the employer’s request, provide the employer with another participant. (d)(A) If after four months in a placement, a participant has not been hired for an unsubsidized position, the employer shall allow the worker to undertake eight hours of job search per week. Participating employers shall consider such time as hours worked for the purposes of paying wages. (B) If after six months in a placement, a participant has not been hired for an unsubsidized position, the placement shall be terminated, and the caseworker shall reassess the participant’s employment development plan. (e) The Department of Human Services may pay placement and barrier removal payments to temporary assistance for needy families program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participants as necessary to enable participation in the JOBS Plus Program. (f) The Department of Human Services shall accept eligible volunteers into the program prior to mandating program participation by eligible persons. (5)(a) Assignment of participants to available jobs shall be based on a preference schedule developed by the Department of Human Services. Any temporary assistance for needy families recipient or supplemental nutrition assistance recipient may volunteer for the program. (b) The following individuals may not be required to pa