11.2.3  Approving or Denying Good Cause

FEPFinancial and Employment Planners are responsible for determining if a W-2Wisconsin Works participant had good cause for not participating in W-2 assigned activities.  While the good cause policy is meant to model what an employer may allow under its own absence policy, FEPs must consider the fact that participants may face hardships that make completing activities and notifying the agency of missed activities more difficult, e.g., phone availability, reliable transportation, etc.

FEPs must determine if the participant’s explanation for the absence or the written verification of the absence meets the allowable good cause reasons. The FEP must enter the hours participated, the participant's reason for the nonparticipation, and indicate whether there is good cause for the nonparticipation. If there is good cause, the FEP must select the worker reason for approving along with the appropriate number of good cause hours approved, and document the rationale in PIN comments.  If the FEP determines that the participant’s explanation does not meet any of the allowable good cause reasons, the FEP must select the worker reason for denying good cause as well as referencing the number of hours, dates and activities missed in PIN comments.

When documenting the reasons for approving or denying good cause, the FEP must use the Good Cause Determination Comment Type so monitoring staff will be able to easily identify comments related to good cause decisions.  

History:  Release 21-07; Release 12-03; Release 11-04; Release 09-03.