34.6 WAIVER OF OFFICE INTERVIEW

1240-1-15-.06

(1) The office interview must be waived upon request by any household which is:

(a) unable to appoint an authorized representative and which has no household members able to come into the Food Stamp Office because they are 60 years of age or older, or are disabled as defined;

(b) unable to appoint an authorized representative and lives in a location not served by a certification office;

(c) unable to appoint an authorized representative and which has no household members able to come to the Food Stamp Office because of transportation difficulties or similar hardships which the county determines, on a case-by-case basis, warrants a waiver of the office interview. These hardship conditions include, but are not limited to:

1. illness,

2. care of a household member,

3. prolonged severe weather,

4. hardship associated with living in a rural area, and/or

5. employment or training hours that prevent an applicant from participating in a face-to-face interview.

The county must determine if the difficulty or hardship reported by a household warrants a waiver of the office interview and document in the case file why a request for a waiver was granted or denied.

(2) Telephone Interviews

The county may offer a telephone interview in lieu of a face-to-face interview for a household for whom the face-to-face interview is waived.

(3) Out-Of-Office Interviews

We anticipate that the interview requirement for the majority of households with waived face-to-face interviews may be completed via telephone interviews. However, this may not be possible in some rare instances. When this is the case, a mutually agreed-upon site for the interview will be arranged between the county and the applicant/recipient or his/her representative.

(4) Verification of Information for Out-of-Office Interviews

Waiver of the face-to-face interview does not exempt the household from the verification requirements discussed in Section 1240-1-16. However, special procedures also may be used to permit the household to provide verification and thus obtain its benefits in a timely manner. These may include substituting a collateral contact in cases where documentary verification would normally be provided. Waiver of the face-to-face interview should not affect the length of the household’s certification period.

(5) Interview for Simplified Reporting Cases

Cases in Simplified Reporting must have a renewal for food stamps every six months (12 months for elderly and disabled households with no earned income).

Glossary of Terms

Food Stamp Table of Contents