GUIDE SHEET 12

WORKER PROFILING AND REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES

Title III of the Social Security Act, amended in November 1993 by Public Law 103-152, requires that all States establish and utilize a system of profiling all new claimants for unemployment compensation that identifies those who will likely exhaust their benefits and who will need reemployment assistance services to make a successful transition to new employment.

Under this system, identified claimants may be referred to reemployment services which include job search assistance, job placement services, counseling, testing, providing occupational and labor market information, assessment, job search workshops, job clubs, referrals to employers, and other similar services.

Familiarity with Unemployment Insurance Program Letter No. 41-94, dated

August 16, 1994, as well as State law and policy, is necessary to properly evaluate Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services determinations.

Claimants must be held ineligible for any week in which there is a failure to participate in reemployment services which they are required to attend unless they: (1) have justifiable cause, (2) have completed such services or, (3) are attending similar services.

Justifiable cause for refusal to participate in reemployment services or similar services is determined by the "reasonable person" test. The justifiable cause exception does not supersede State able and available provisions, e.g., a claimant's illness may be justifiable cause for not accepting referral to reemployment services, but, will raise the issue of eligibility under the able and available provisions of State law.

Claimants should not be held ineligible if the failure to participate is minimal and does not significantly affect their ability to benefit from the reemployment services in attempting to obtain new work, e.g., if a claimant misses one hour of an eight hour seminar, the State may find that this limited absence is not a failure to participate.

Claimants who have completed reemployment services are not required to participate in such services and, therefore, should not be held ineligible. This includes "similar services." The date of completion should be considered in arriving at a decision of justifiable cause for refusal to participate.

Claimants are not required to participate in reemployment services to which they are referred if they are participating in "similar services." These are defined as reemployment services that claimants are attending on their own initiative, e.g., services offered by a company prior to a permanent layoff, or services offered by private employment agencies. These services need not be identical to those to which the claimant was referred by the State; they need only be reasonably similar. The SESA must perform sufficient factfinding to determine whether the services are similar.

The SESA also bears the responsibility to determine whether the referral is proper if the claimant questions the need for reemployment services.

BASIC QUESTIONS AND FACTORS TO CONSIDER

A. HOW WAS THE CLAIMANT NOTIFIED AND WHAT WAS THE CONTENT OF THE NOTICE?

The claimant must be notified in writing of the referral and advised of the following: (1) that he/she has been identified as likely to need reemployment services in order to make a successful transition to new employment; (2) when and where to report for the services; and (3) that failure to participate in reemployment services may result in denial of UI benefits. If the SESA does not conform to all of the above requirements, there is no issue.

B. WHAT WAS THE REASON(S) FOR THE CLAIMANT'S REFUSAL?

If the claimant refused because of prior completion of reemployment services, obtain written documentation of such completion. How recently did the claimant complete the services? Has the claimant recently completed, or is the claimant currently participating in, similar services? Determine if the similar services were of sufficient quality to be acceptable in lieu of this referral. Also, determine date of completion.

C. WAS THE REASON FOR REFUSAL CONTROLLABLE OR UNCONTROLLABLE?

It should be determined whether the claimant's reason for refusing services were within his/her control. If the reason is within the claimant's control, what efforts did the claimant make to resolve the controllable reason?

Factfinding

A. NOTIFICATION TO CLAIMANT IN WRITING OF THE REFERRAL TO REEMPLOYMENT SERVICES

• Claimant identified as needing reemployment services
  
  
• When and where to report for services
  
  
• Implications of failure to report and/or participate

HINT: Case should be scored as no issue if the SESA or the SESA's designated service provider does not include required information in call-in notice to claimant.

B. CLAIMANT'S OBJECTIONS OR REASONS FOR NOT PARTICIPATING

• Currently attending similar reemployment services
  
  
• Date of completion of reemployment or similar services
  
  
• Details of similar reemployment services
  
  
• Controllable/Uncontrollable reasons

HINT: Do not score down in Law and Policy on the basis of incorrect section of law if the State has chosen to use their A&A section of law to adjudicate all worker profiling issues and does not have a separate section of law dealing with worker profiling.