Resident Farm Laborers

Resident farm laborers may work for one employer or for a number of employers during the year. The certification procedures for these households differ depending on how the household receives income. (A) Stable Income. Some farm laborers are employed for the entire year and receive a regular monthly salary. These households can be certified for up to one year if its circumstances are not likely to change. (B) Irregular Income. (1) One Employer. In some instances a farm laborer household resides year round on one farm, but is paid only during the work season. During the non-work season, the household may receive advance or deferred payments. The worker may have some difficulty in assigning an income figure to the farm worker whose income is high during the work season and correspondingly low during the non-work season when income is only from advance or deferred payments. Since the variation in income between the two cycles may be quite substantial, averaging income over the certification period might inhibit households from participating during the non-work period of low income. Even if income is prorated unevenly over the certification period to account for such variations, the income figure assigned during the low period might not be truly representative of the actual cash available to the household. For this reason, consideration should be given to certifying the household for lesser periods to take into account the income actually available to the household. (2) More than One Employer. Farm laborer households which reside on one farm year round, but do not receive advance or deferred payments will most likely have income from another source during the non-work season. These households should be assigned shorter certification periods in accordance with the predictability of the receipt and amount of income. (C) Work Requirements. Resident farm laborers must comply with work requirements during the non-work season unless exempt as specified in 106 CMR 362.310: SNAP Employment and Training Program or 362.320: SNAP Work Program.