(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.

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(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 and the JOBS Plus Advisory Board, 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 participate in the program:

(A) Recipients under the temporary assistance for needy families program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program who are eligible for Supplemental Security Income benefits or other ongoing state or federal maintenance benefits based on age or disability.

(B) Supplemental nutrition assistance applicants or recipients who are employed full-time or are college students eligible for supplemental nutrition assistance and enrolled full-time in a community college or an institution of higher education, or enrolled half-time in a community college or an institution of higher education and working at least 20 hours per week.

(C) Teenage parents who remain in high school if progressing toward a diploma. Teenage parents not in school are eligible for the JOBS Plus Program.

(c) The Department of Human Services shall provide life skills classes and opportunities to achieve a certificate for passing an approved high school equivalency test such as the General Educational Development (GED) test to appropriate participants in conjunction with working in the JOBS Plus Program.

(d) Subject to subsection (7) of this section, temporary assistance for needy families and supplemental nutrition assistance shall be suspended at the end of the calendar month in which an employer makes the first wage payment to a participant who is a custodial parent in a family that receives temporary assistance for needy families or to any adult member of a household receiving supplemental nutrition assistance. Failure of the participant to cooperate with the requirements of the JOBS Plus Program may result in the participant’s removal, in accordance with rules adopted by the Department of Human Services, from the JOBS Plus Program and suspension of the participant’s temporary assistance for needy families grant and supplemental nutrition assistance. A temporary assistance for needy families and supplemental nutrition assistance recipient who has been removed from the program for failing to cooperate shall be eligible to reapply to participate in the program and shall have eligibility for program services determined without regard to the length of time the person was not participating following removal.

(6)(a) Employers shall pay all participating individuals at least the hourly rate of the Oregon minimum wage.

(b) Sick leave, holiday and vacation absences shall conform to the individual employer’s rules for temporary employees.

(c) Group health insurance benefits shall be provided by the employer to program participants if, and to the extent that, state or federal law requires the employer to provide such benefits.

(d) All persons participating in the JOBS Plus Program shall be considered to be temporary employees of the individual employer providing the work and shall be entitled only to benefits required by state or federal law.

(e) Employers shall provide workers’ compensation coverage for each JOBS Plus Program participant.

(7) In the event that the net monthly full-time wage paid to a participant would be less than the level of income from the temporary assistance for needy families program and the supplemental nutrition assistance amount equivalent that the participant would otherwise receive, the Department of Human Services shall determine and pay a supplemental payment as necessary to provide the participant with that level of net income. The department shall determine and pay in advance supplemental payments to participants on a monthly basis as necessary to ensure equivalent net program wages. Participants shall be compensated only for time worked.

(8) In addition to and not in lieu of the payments provided for under subsections (6) and (7) of this section, participants shall be entitled to retain the full child support payments collected by the Department of Justice.

(9) In conformity with existing state day care program regulations, child day care shall be provided for all program participants who require it.

(10) JOBS Plus Program employers shall:

(a) Endeavor to make JOBS Plus Program placements positive learning and training experiences;

(b) Maintain health, safety and working conditions at or above levels generally acceptable in the industry and no less than that of comparable jobs of the employer;

(c) Provide on-the-job training to the degree necessary for the participants to perform their duties;

(d) Recruit volunteer mentors from among their regular employees to assist the participants in becoming oriented to work and the workplace; and

(e) Sign an agreement to abide by all requirements of the program, including the requirement that the program not supplant existing jobs. All agreements shall include provisions noting the employer’s responsibility to repay reimbursements in the event the employer violates program rules. When a professional placement service, professional employment organization or temporary employment agency is acting as an employer pursuant to subsection (13) of this section, agreements under this paragraph shall require a three-party agreement between the professional placement service, professional employment organization or temporary employment agency, the organization where the participant has been placed to perform services and the State of Oregon. The three-party agreement shall include provisions requiring that all JOBS Plus reimbursements received by the professional placement service, professional employment organization or temporary employment agency be credited to the organization where the participant has been placed to perform services.

(11) Program participant wages shall be subject to federal and state income taxes, Social Security taxes and unemployment insurance tax or reimbursement as applicable under ORS Chapter 657, which shall be withheld and paid in accordance with state and federal law. Supplemental payments made pursuant to subsection (7) of this section shall not be subject to state income taxes under ORS Chapter 316 and, to the extent allowed by federal law, shall not be subject to federal income taxes and Social Security taxes.

(12)(a) The Department of Human Services shall reimburse employers for the employers’ share of Social Security, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation premiums paid on behalf of program participants referred to the employer by the Department of Human Services, as well as the minimum wage earnings paid by the employer to program participants referred to the employer by the Department of Human Services.

(b) If the Department of Human Services finds that an employer has violated any of the rules of the JOBS Plus Program, the department:

(A) Shall withhold any amounts due to employers under paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(B) May seek repayment of any amounts paid to employers under paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(13) For purposes of this section, ’employer’ shall include professional placement services, professional employment organizations and temporary employment agencies. [1995 c.561 § 13 and 1995 c.816 § 28; 1997 c.181 § 1; 1997 c.249 § 127; 1997 c.581 § 21; 1997 c.704 § 44; 2001 c.657 § 3; 2007 c.861 § 17; 2009 c.21 § 54; 2009 c.599 § 14; 2015 c.765 § 9; 2017 c.66 § 22]