The Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) manual is used by staff implementing the Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) program.

The purpose of the manual is to provide policy consistent with federal and state law and the TEA State Plan for the implementation of the TEA program. The manual also provides information to DCO staff to help them produce the outcome of putting people in jobs as a means of moving families from welfare to work.

The Office of Program Planning and Development, Division of County Operations, has primary responsibility for the preparation of the TEA manual. However, policy and procedure to be included in the TEA manual may originate with any member of the Department staff.

Policy and procedure are prepared in draft form. Developers must have the draft approved by the Assistant Director, Office of Program Planning and Development, and the Division Director. Upon final approval, the developers will ensure that the promulgation requirements of the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act are met, if applicable, prior to issuance of the policy or procedure. The final draft will be sent to the Office of Program Planning and Development for publication and distribution.

The majority of the TEA manual (Sections 2000-5000) is structured to follow, as reasonably as possible, the flow in which county staff would be dealing with a TEA family. That is, it begins with the Application Process (interview, eligibility determination, and disposal - TEA 2000 sections), followed by the delivery of Employment Services and other changes and issues which may arise while the family is receiving TEA cash assistance (TEA 3000 and 4000 sections), and ending with the termination of cash assistance (TEA 5000).

The other sections (TEA 1000 and TEA 6000-8000) provide general administrative policy and procedures regarding the program and its implementation.

The manual is formatted so as to clearly distinguish policy statements from other procedural types of information,

All of the information outside of the policy statement boxes are procedural guidelines or information. These describe the procedures for applying the policy or provide information to help explain the policy or procedure.

"Procedures" are identified by a 1/4" indentation from both the right and left margins. A "procedure" may be either a mandatory procedure or a flexible procedure.

Mandatory procedures must be followed by staff and usually involve the actual authorization or delivery of benefits or are for the purpose of maintaining program integrity. Mandatory procedures use verbs such as "must" and "will."

Flexible procedures allow the county office staff to use their own judgment or discretion in applying a policy or procedure. In conjunction with the intent stated in TEA 1020, the intent of these procedures is to enable the County Administrator to develop county procedures, through training and supervision, so that individual case decisions are made at the lowest possible level. Flexible procedures are identified by verbs such as "may" or "should."

Procedural information and examples are provided to help explain a policy or its application. Text that is not indented from either margin is strictly informational.

Examples are labeled EXAMPLE and are indented 1/2" from each margin.

A decimal numbering system will be used to organize policy material in the manual. The manual will have a Table of Contents to be filed at the front of the manual to assist in locating policy and procedure. This will be updated periodically.

Material issued for inclusion in the body of the TEA manual, including policy revisions, deletions, etc., will be accompanied by a Manual Transmittal cover memo explaining the filing of the material. Each issuance will be coded (e.g., TEA 97-1). In addition to filing instructions, the cover memo may contain a policy summary and specific implementation procedures for new or revised policy. At the bottom of the cover memo will be an inquiry line which will give the name and telephone number of the Central Office staff person responsible for answering questions regarding the issuance.

Cover memos and Policy Directives will be filed at the front of the manual in numerical order with the most recent memo/directive filed at the front.

At least once a year, a checklist will be issued containing a complete list of material which should be included in the manual in the order in which it should be filed. This checklist will enable each person maintaining a TEA manual to check his or her manual to ensure that all material is filed in the proper order. After a manual has been checked against the checklist, cover memos for all issuances prior to the checklist which do not contain specific implementation procedures may be removed from the manual. Those containing implementation procedures may also be removed provided the procedures are no longer in effect. Policy Directives will be removed only when specific instructions to delete a directive are issued to the manual.

All requests for manuals are to be directed to the Office of Program Planning and Development, Division of County Operations.

The Office of Program Planning and Development (OPPD), Division of County Operations, will maintain the master distribution list for the Transitional Employment Assistance manual. Changes in distribution such as changes in address, additions, deletions, and changes in the number of copies should be requested by memo to the Assistant Director, OPPD. If the proper number of copies of manual is not received, additional copies may be requested from OPPD.