SNAP Work Requirements in Alabama

Check if the time limit applies to you Count your months

When the new rules started in Alabama

DHR has not posted the exact date it started using the new rules. Its eligibility summary (Form DHR-FAP-1942, revised September 2026) already uses them: the time limit covers ages 18 through 64, and the child exemption covers a child under 14 in the home.

Waived areas in Alabama

No part of Alabama is waived.

That means the time limit can apply anywhere in the state to adults who are not exempt and do not meet the 80-hour rule.

Your 36-month period

Alabama uses one statewide period. DHR says the current period runs from January 2025 through December 2027.

You can get Food Assistance Program for only 3 countable months in that period unless you meet the 80-hour rule or are exempt. The time limit calculator helps you count.

How to meet and report the 80 hours

Job and training program: A-RESET

A-RESET (Alabama Resources for Enrichment, Self-Sufficiency, and Employability Training) is the state's free, voluntary SNAP job training program. It can count toward your 80 hours and pays $50 twice a month toward work costs. It runs in 42 counties. Ask your county DHR office to meet with a case manager.

Across all states, paid work, work for goods or services, volunteering, workfare and approved training count, and you can combine them. See what counts as work.

More Alabama details

• If you are on simplified reporting, you must tell DHR if your work hours drop below 20 a week (80 a month).
• DHR's exemption list includes volunteering, job training, or work for non-cash pay (such as free rent) of 80 hours a month, as well as school at least half-time and drug or alcohol treatment.
• You can ask for a fair hearing within 90 days of a decision, by phone or in writing, at your county DHR office or the Food Assistance Division at (334) 242-1700.

Contact

• Agency: Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR)
• Online account: MyDHR
• Phone: (800) 382-0499 (Food Assistance information line; (334) 242-0143 in the Montgomery area)

Federal rules that apply in Alabama

• Covered: adults 18 through 64 who can work, with no child under 14 in their SNAP household.
• Exempt: pregnancy; a health condition that keeps you from working; American Indian, Alaska Native, Urban Indian or California Indian; or being excused from the general work rules (caring for a child under 6 or a disabled person, unemployment benefits, 30 hours a week or $217.50 a week, half-time school, drug or alcohol treatment, TANF work rules). See all exemptions.
• Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and former foster youth are no longer automatically exempt.
• If you lose SNAP, you can get it back by doing 80 hours in 30 days or becoming exempt. You can also ask for a fair hearing. See how to get SNAP back.