In early June we provided an interim procedure for obtaining information about Unemployment Insurance Benefits (UIB) income. Since then, we have continued to work with Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) staff to develop a long-term solution. The requests for UIB information we have received from staff over the past few weeks have been very useful in this development.
Effective immediately, staff will now call the UI Support Section in DOLWD directly for information needed to anticipate UIB income. Their number is 465-4691. Staff no longer has to e-mail DPA Policy, and should not contact the UI Call Centers to request information.
When calling, staff should have handy the information available on the DOL DB2 system about the claim. Following are some tips to help use the information most efficiently:
1. Talk to the client to find out what they know about their UIB claim, if they are planning to file for their weekly benefits and if they know of a reason that they will not receive payment.
2. The UIB information updates overnight on the DOL system. Whenever the client or DOLWD staff takes an action on a claim, the resulting information will not be available on the system until the next day.
3. Use the information on the claim history (BB52 Week Claimed Entitlement) and payment history (BB53 Weekly Disbursements) to anticipate income as much as possible. If the client is regularly claiming benefits and they are regularly being paid, the amounts shown on these screens are sufficient for estimating income.
4. Information on the BB40 (Issue/Adjudication List) screen is not sufficient to determine whether benefits will be stopped or delayed. It is preferable to review the claim and payment histories and if there is an indication that benefits have been interrupted, contact the UI Support Section for more information.
5. If there is a gap in the claim and payment histories, and the client says they are going to reopen their claim, use the BC20 (Client ES/UI Information) screen to determine if the claim has been reopened. This will show in the field titled "Last Reopen". If the date in that field corresponds with the client's statement that they are going to begin claiming benefits and expect to receive them, this information can be used to estimate the UIB income.
6. If the UIB claim is new, and there is not yet a claim or payment history, follow the DPA Applicants with New UIB Claims procedure (below) for anticipating income in these situations.
7. The Interface Training guide distributed by Staff Development & Training during the Accuracy Summits in the summer of 2004 provides reference material for using the screens in the DOLWD data system. We will be working on updating this material and making it available online in the near future.
If there are any questions about this broadcast or obtaining UIB information, please email DPA Policy at dpapolicy@health.state.ak.us
DPA Applicants with New UIB Claims
When a DPA applicant has recently established a new UIB claim, information about the benefit year, balance, weekly benefit amount and duration of benefits will appear on the BC20 (Client ES/UI Information) and BB05 (Full Program Entitlement) screens in the DOL data system. Often, there will not yet be a history of weekly claims on the BB52 (Week Claimed Entitlement) or of payments on the BB53 (Weekly Disbursements) that can be used to anticipate when income will be received.
To anticipate this income when there is no payment history:
Example: A new DPA applicant has a new UIB claim established on July 6, 2005. July 3 is the benefit year start date (always a Sunday) for the new claim. During the week of July 17, the individual files the claim for the waiting week, July 3, and the first possible week of benefits, July 10. The payment for the first week of benefits will then be issued during the week of July 17. The applicant will not be able to claim further UIB until the week of July 31, so the worker will anticipate one week of UIB will be received for July, allowing time for the payment to be directly deposited or delivered by mail. The worker will anticipate future month’s income based on claims being filed every two weeks.