Implement New Jersey WorkFirst (WFNJ)

[hua7450]

Summary

Fixes #7122

Implements the New Jersey WorkFirst (WFNJ) TANF program, including income eligibility, resource limits, earned income disregards, child support disregard, and benefit calculations.

---

Regulatory Authority

Regulation	Description
N.J.S.A. 44:10-55 et seq.	Work First New Jersey Act (statutory authority)
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.1	Child support pass-through and disregard
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.2	Initial financial eligibility determination
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.3	Maximum allowable income and benefit levels
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.8	Earned income disregards
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.9	Income sources (earned and unearned)
N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.20	Resource limits
NJ TANF State Plan FFY 2024-2026	State TANF Plan

---

Income Eligibility Tests

Gross Income Test (Initial Applicants)

• Gross income must be at or below the maximum allowable income (150% of payment level)

Countable Income Test

• Countable income must be less than the payment level for the household size

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.2, N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.3

Resource Test

• Countable resources must not exceed $2,000

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.20

---

Income Deductions & Exemptions

Earned Income Disregards

NJ WFNJ provides tiered disregards based on months of employment and hours worked:

Period	20+ hrs/week	<20 hrs/week
Month 1	100%	100%
Months 2-7	75%	50%
Month 8+	50%	50%

Implemented: 20+ hours/week rates only (assumes full-time employment)

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.8, NJ TANF State Plan p.22

Note: Uses calendar months as a proxy for enrollment months.

Child Support Disregard

NJ WFNJ disregards child support received up to:

# of Children	Maximum Disregard
1 child	$100/month
2+ children	$200/month

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.1(h)

---

Income Standards (Schedule I & II)

Maximum Allowable Income (Schedule I)

Household Size	Monthly Limit
1	$321
2	$638
3	$839
4	$966
5	$1,092
6	$1,221
7	$1,341
8	$1,442
Each additional	+$99

Maximum Benefit / Payment Level (Schedule II)

Household Size	Monthly Benefit
1	$214
2	$425
3	$559
4	$644
5	$728
6	$814
7	$894
8	$961
Each additional	+$66

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.3, NJ TANF State Plan p.64

---

Benefit Calculation

Benefit = max(Payment Level - Countable Income, 0)

Where:

• Countable Income = Countable Earned Income + Countable Unearned Income
• Countable Earned Income = Gross Earned × (1 - Disregard Rate)
• Countable Unearned Income = Gross Unearned - Child Support Disregard

Source: N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.3, N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.8

---

Variable Structure

Variable	Entity	Description
nj_wfnj_countable_earned_income_person	Person	Earned income after disregard (per person)
nj_wfnj_countable_unearned_income	SPMUnit	Unearned income after child support disregard
nj_wfnj_gross_income	SPMUnit	Sum of gross earned + unearned income
nj_wfnj_countable_income	SPMUnit	Sum of countable earned + unearned income
nj_wfnj_gross_income_eligible	SPMUnit	Gross income test
nj_wfnj_income_eligible	SPMUnit	Countable income test
nj_wfnj_resources_eligible	SPMUnit	Resource test
nj_wfnj_eligible	SPMUnit	Final eligibility (demographic, immigration, income, resources)
nj_wfnj_payment_levels	SPMUnit	Maximum benefit for household size
nj_wfnj	SPMUnit	Benefit amount

---

Not Implemented

Rule	Source	Reason
60-Month Lifetime Limit	N.J.S.A. 44:10-72	Time limits not tracked in PolicyEngine
Enrollment-Based Disregard Tracking	N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.8	Uses calendar months as proxy
Earned Income Disregard (<20 hrs/week)	N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.8	Only 20+ hours/week rates implemented (100%→75%→50% vs 100%→50%→50%)
Work Requirements/Sanctions	N.J.A.C. 10:90-4	Not implemented

---

Implementation Notes

• Uses federal is_demographic_tanf_eligible for demographic eligibility
• Uses federal is_citizen_or_legal_immigrant for immigration eligibility
• Enrolled recipients skip gross income test (only countable income test applies)
• Earned income sources: tanf_gross_earned_income
• Unearned income sources: tanf_gross_unearned_income per N.J.A.C. 10:90-3.9

---

Test Coverage

• 53 tests covering eligibility, income calculations, and benefit amounts
• Full year test verifying tiered earned income disregards (100%/75%/50%)
• Child support disregard tests for 1 child and 2+ children scenarios
• Integration tests for complete eligibility pipeline

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (fc2b613) to head (c387ff8).
⚠️ Report is 45 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##              main     #7123   +/-   ##
=========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%           
=========================================
  Files           10        10           
  Lines          144       137    -7     
=========================================
- Hits           144       137    -7     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.