Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 40-5.2 - The Rhode Island Works Program

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Applicant: means a person who has filed a written application for assistance for herself or himself and her or his dependent child(ren). See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Assistance: means cash and any other benefits provided pursuant to this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Assistance unit: means the assistance-filing unit consisting of the group of persons, including the dependent child(ren), living together in a single household who must be included in the application for assistance and in the assistance payment if eligibility is established. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Benefits: shall mean assistance received pursuant to this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Community service programs: means structured programs and activities in which cash assistance recipients perform work for the direct benefit of the community under the auspices of public or nonprofit organizations. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Department: means the department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dependent child: means an individual, other than an individual with respect to whom foster care maintenance payments are made, who is: (i) Under the age of eighteen (18); or (ii) Under the age of nineteen (19) and a full-time student in a secondary school (or in the equivalent level of vocational or educational training). See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Director: means the director of the department of human services. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Earned income: means income in cash or the equivalent received by a person through the receipt of wages, salary, commissions, or profit from activities in which the person is self-employed or as an employee and before any deductions for taxes. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Earned income tax credit: means the credit against federal personal income tax liability under § 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Education directly related to employment: means education, in the case of a participant who has not received a high school diploma or a certificate of high school equivalency, related to a specific occupation, job, or job offer. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Family: means : (i) A pregnant person from onset of pregnancy; or (ii) A child and the following eligible persons living in the same household as the child: (iii) Each biological, adoptive or stepparent of the child, or in the absence of a parent, any adult relative who is responsible, in fact, for the care of such child; and (iv) The child's minor siblings (whether of the whole or half blood); provided, however, that the term "family" shall not include any person receiving benefits under Title XVI of the Social Security Act, Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• grant diversion: means the use of all or a portion of a participant's cash assistance grant and food stamp grant as a wage supplement to an employer. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Gross earnings: means earnings from employment and self-employment further described in the department of human services rules and regulations. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Individual employment plan: means a written, individualized plan for employment developed jointly by the applicant and the department of human services that specifies the steps the participant shall take toward long-term economic independence developed in accordance with Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Job skills training directly related to employment: means training or education for job skills required by an employer to provide an individual with the ability to obtain employment or to advance or adapt to the changing demands of the workplace. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Minor parent: means a parent under the age of eighteen (18). See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Net income: means the total gross income of the assistance unit less allowable disregards and deductions as described in Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• On-the-job training: means training in the public or private sector that is given to a paid employee while he or she is engaged in productive work and that provides knowledge and skills essential to the full and adequate performance of the job. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Participant: means a person who has been found eligible for assistance in accordance with this chapter and who must comply with all requirements of this chapter, and has entered into an individual employment plan. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recipient: means a person who has been found eligible and receives cash assistance in accordance with this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Relative: means a parent, stepparent, grandparent, great grandparent, great-great grandparent, aunt, great-aunt, great-great aunt, uncle, great-uncle, great-great uncle, sister, brother, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, first cousin, first cousin once removed, niece, great-niece, great-great niece, nephew, great-nephew, or great-great nephew. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Resident: means a person who maintains residence by his or her continuous physical presence in the state. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• State: means the state of Rhode Island. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8
• Unsubsidized employment: means full- or part-time employment in the public or private sector that is not subsidized by TANF or any other public program. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Vocational educational training: means organized educational programs, not to exceed twelve (12) months with respect to any participant, that are directly related to the preparation of participants for employment in current or emerging occupations. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8
• Work experience: means a work activity that provides a participant with an opportunity to acquire the general skills, training, knowledge, and work habits necessary to obtain employment. See Rhode Island General Laws 40-5.2-8