Sec. 20. (a) This section does not apply to a person who voluntarily leaves an employer for any of the following reasons:

(1) The person accepted previously secured permanent full-time work with another employer that offered reasonable expectation of higher wages or better working conditions.

(2) The person left the employer due to a medically substantiated physical disability and is involuntarily unemployed after having made reasonable efforts to maintain the employment relationship.

(3) The person left work to enter the armed forces of the United States.

(4) The person's employment was terminated under the compulsory retirement provision of a collective bargaining agreement to which the employer is a party, or under any other plan, system, or program, public or private, providing for compulsory retirement.

(5) The person voluntarily left the employer, and:

(A) the person's previous employment was outside the person's labor market;

(B) the person left to accept previously secured full-time work with an employer in the person's labor market; and

(C) the person actually became employed with the employer in the person's labor market within the area surrounding the person's permanent residence, outside which the person cannot reasonably commute on a daily basis. In determining whether a person can reasonably commute under this clause, the division shall consider the nature of the person's job.

(6) The person was laid off by the employer.

(b) A person who applies for TANF assistance under this article and:

(1) voluntarily leaves the person's most recent employer:

(A) within six (6) months before applying for TANF; or

(B) at any time after becoming a recipient of TANF under this chapter; or

(2) voluntarily reduces the number of hours the person works in order to qualify for or retain eligibility for assistance under this article;

is ineligible to receive assistance under IC 12-14 for six (6) months after leaving the person's employer or reducing the person's hours.

As added by P.L.46-1995, SEC.20. Amended by P.L.161-2007, SEC.21.