Waiver of the Office Interview

The households in 106 CMR 361.510(A) and (B) shall not be required to complete a face-to-face interview in the local office. For these households the interview must be conducted by telephone or home visit. However, home visits shall be used only if the time of the visit is scheduled in advance with the household. Households who have been certified for 24 months shall have a telephone interview at the end of the 24-month period. (See 106 CMR 366.920: Regular SSI/SNAP Households.) (A) Waiver Granted upon Request. Any household which is unable to appoint an authorized representative and has no household member able to come into the office because they are elderly or disabled as defined in 106 CMR 361.210 shall be granted a waiver of the office interview. (B) Waiver Granted on Case-by-case Basis. A waiver of the office interview requirement shall be granted on a case-by-case basis to any household which is unable to appoint an authorized representative and has no household member able to come into the office because of transportation difficulties or similar hardships. Hardship conditions include, but are not limited to: illness; care of a household member; prolonged severe weather; or work hours which preclude an office interview. Mere inconvenience (i.e., for the client, it is easier to be interviewed by telephone or to have the worker make a home visit than to go to the office) is not sufficient reason to waive the office interview. The worker shall determine if the transportation difficulty or other hardship reported by the client warrants a waiver of the office interview requirement and shall fully document in the case record why a request for a waiver was granted or denied.