A. The department may administer a wage subsidy program based on availability of federal and state funds.

B. The wage subsidy program shall include the following requirements:

(1) participating employers shall hire participants who receive cash assistance for subsidized job slots that are full time and that offer a reasonable possibility of unsubsidized employment after the subsidy period;

(2) participating employers shall receive a subsidy for up to twelve months;

(3) subsidized employees shall not be required to work in excess of forty hours per week;

(4) subsidized employees shall be paid a wage that is substantially like the wage paid for similar jobs with the employer with appropriate adjustments for experience and training but not less than the federal minimum hourly wage;

(5) subsidized employment does not impair an existing contract or collective bargaining agreement;

(6) subsidized employment does not displace currently employed workers or fill positions that are vacant due to a layoff;

(7) wage subsidy employers shall:

(a) maintain health, safety and working conditions at or above levels generally acceptable in the industry and not less than those of comparable jobs offered by the employer;

(b) provide on-the-job training necessary for subsidized employees to perform their duties;

(c) sign an agreement for each placement outlining the specific job offered to a subsidized employee and agree to abide by all of the requirements of the program;

(d) provide workers' compensation coverage for each subsidized employee; and

(e) provide the subsidized employee with benefits equal to those for new employees or as required by state and federal law, whichever is greater;

(8) the department shall determine whether a participant is eligible to be a subsidized employee by establishing:

(a) that the participant has sufficient work experience to obtain unsubsidized employment;

(b) that the participant has completed an employment preparation program; or

(c) that the department or participant may benefit from this employment strategy;

(9) a disregard of income earned by the subsidized employee in the subsidized job shall be applied in the eligibility determination for services;

(10) the department shall suspend regular payments of cash assistance to the benefit group for the calendar month in which an employer makes the first subsidized wage payment to a subsidized employee who is otherwise eligible for cash assistance and food stamps;

(11) the department shall pay employers each month, from cash assistance;

(12) a subsidized employee shall be eligible for supplemental payments if the net monthly full-time wage paid to the subsidized employee is less than the monthly total of the cash assistance the participant is eligible to receive. The department shall authorize issuance of a supplemental cash payment to compensate for the deficit. To determine if a deficit exists, the department shall adopt an equivalency scale that is adjustable to household size and other factors; and

(13) the department shall determine monthly and pay in advance supplemental payments to eligible subsidized employees. In calculating the payment, the department shall assume that the subsidized employee will work forty hours per week during the month unless an employer provides information that the number of hours to be worked by the subsidized employee will be reduced.

C. For the purposes of this section, "benefits" includes health care coverage, paid sick leave and holiday and vacation pay.

D. For the purposes of this section, "subsidized employee" means a participant engaged in a subsidized employment activity.

E. For the purposes of this section, "net monthly full-time wage" means a subsidized employee's wages after the required payroll deductions.

History: Laws 1998, ch. 8, § 19 and Laws 1998, ch. 9, § 19; 2007, ch. 350, § 7.

Duplicate laws. — Laws 1998, ch. 8, § 19 and Laws 1998, ch. 9, § 19 enacted identical new sections.

The 2007 amendment, effective June 15, 2007, changed the program from a "pilot project" to a wage subsidy program based on availability of federal and state funds and extended the time participating employers may receive a subsidy from six to twelve months; and eliminated provisions relating to food stamps and the extension of the subsidy for employers operating in areas that have a higher unemployment rate than the state average.