State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Release 26-01 April 15, 2025

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3.10.1 Strikers

7 CFR 273.1(e)

A striker is anyone involved in either of the following, whether or not they are in a collective bargaining unit:

1. A strike or concerted stoppage of work by employees against their employer, including a stoppage because a collective bargaining agreement expired, or a concerted slowdown or interruption of operations by employees against their employer.
2. A person is a striker whether or not they personally voted for the strike. Strikers are not exempt from FoodShare basic work rules.

3.10.1.1 Striker Exceptions

None of the following is a striker:

1. An employee affected by a lockout.
2. Persons exempt from the FoodShare work requirements on the day before the strike except those exempt solely because they are employed. For example, a caretaker is not considered a striker if they are the primary caretaker for a childA person's biological, step, or adopted son or daughter, regardless of age. If a child is adopted, the adoption severs the biological tie to the parent. under six years old (see Section 3.16.1 FoodShare Basic Work Rules)
3. Any employee of the federal government, the state, or any political subdivision engaged in a work-related strike. They have voluntarily quit their job without good cause.
4. Persons such as truck drivers who cannot do their jobs because the strike has left them with nothing to deliver.
5. Employees who are not part of the bargaining unit and do not want to cross the picket line for fear of personal injury or death.

3.10.1.2 Termination of a Strike

A strike has ended when:

1. The employer notifies its striking employees that it has hired or is hiring replacement workers.
2. All or some of the employees cannot return to the same job they held with that employer before the strike.
3. The employees return to work with the same employer. If a striker accepts other employment while on strike without resigning from the struck company, striker provisions continue to apply.

3.10.1.3 Eligibility on the Day before a Strike

To be eligible, a food unit with a striker must have been eligible on the day before the strike began (a household in the break-in-service window is eligible so long as the reason for the break in service is resolved, a striker would be eligible on the day before the strike began if they are otherwise eligible).
If the case was open for FoodShare on that date, it remains eligible if it continues to meet all criteria (including if the FoodShare was closed due to a break in service).

If the case was not open on that date, determine if the food unit could have been eligible on the day before the strike. Assume the application date is the day before the strike began and the strike never occurred. Use the Striker Evaluation Form (F-16023). Deny an application if a member of the food unit would have been ineligible the day before the strike (follow this process when a strike is reported with an application, this would not be applicable during the break-in-service window).

3.10.1.4 Pre-Strike Income

Determine the food unit's eligibility and allotment when a striker is part of the household applying for FoodShare. Add the greatest of the two following incomes to the income of the other food unit members:

1. The striker's income on the day before the strike (pre-strike income), or
2. The striker's income on the date of the current determination (current income).

Determine the striker's pre-strike income by adding:

1. All unearned income they would normally expect to have received that month, and
2. All earned income they would have received in a month using the wage rate they were earning on that date. Allow the 20% earned income deduction.

Determine the striker's current income as you would any other person's regular income.

If a strike is part of a reported change, it should be acted on in the same manner as other changes. There is no determination for pre-strike eligibility or pre-strike income since a break-in-service is not a new application.

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Publication Number: P-16001