Wagner-Peyser Act

(2) Registration of UI claimants with the State’s employment service if required by State law;

DWDAL and the DUI work collaboratively to provide workforce development opportunities to all UI claimants, totally and partially unemployed, in Maryland. This will be accomplished utilizing a variety of strategies including initial mailers from DUI describing the requirement for enrollment and call in of claimants for RESEA or ROW for UI claimants. Under the Maryland UI law, claimants must enroll in Maryland’s AJC system within five days of receiving the UI pamphlet. Claimants must enroll either in person by visiting their nearest AJC career center or via the internet at https://mwejobs.maryland.gov/vosnet/Default.aspx. A list of Maryland’s AJCs is included as part of the mailed pamphlet.

Using the WPRS, Maryland selects all UI claimants who have received an initial payment. By identifying these claimants, the OWD/UI can: 1. Engage claimants sooner; 2. Provide reemployment services to more claimants faster; 3. Ensure claimants are fulfilling work search requirements; and 4. Refer claimants who may be non-compliant with Maryland UI law for adjudication. Maryland worked with the USDOL to update its current methodology and will integrate the new methodology when UI modernization is completed in 2020. The decision was made to begin clean and to allow focus on completion of modernization for a seamless transition. Once the methodology is fully updated, every two years it will be reviewed and adjusted to reflect current economic conditions. By having a current methodology, Maryland can provide a wide-reach of relevant reemployment services to meet customers’ needs. Maryland offers its RESEA Program to claimants profiled as most likely to exhaust benefits. ROW continues to be an available service for all other claimants as a path to reemployment.

By the fourth week of the initial claims filing process, profiled claimants are sent a letter, which schedules them for one of the workshops immediately after selection. The letter reinforces the requirement to register in the MWE. Follow-up emails are utilized as reminders of required attendance. MD Labor will ensure profiled claimants are fully engaged and registered within the workforce system. Claimants identified as failing to register will be directed to do so prior to completion of the workshop, and registration will be verified by the trainer.

WIOA increases connections between the job training and employment services and the UI system. Maryland will offer its full array of AJC Services as options for reemployment services to UI customers, including basic and individual career services and training services under WIOA. UI claimants will benefit from the enhanced services, including the labor exchange services and career guidance that are included as career services under Title I as well as activities that assist workers in identifying and obtaining jobs in in-demand industries and occupations. Maryland utilizes permanent Wagner-Peyser staff to conduct RESEA activities under Title III WIOA changes.

From the UI first pay list, the WPRS will profile claimants weekly, with those profiled as most likely to exhaust assigned to the RESEA program along with UCX claimants. The remaining claimants will be assigned to the ROW. RESEA claimants may be referred to ROW as a result of the RESEA after the eligibility review and if determined that it will assist in reducing the length of unemployment. Historically, Maryland‘s WPRS system profiles between 20,000-30,000 annually.

The elements which comprise Maryland’s RESEA are AJC Orientation, Labor Market Information provision, Individual Reemployment Plan, Referral to Reemployment and Training Services, and Eligibility Review Interview. Claimants and trainers will mutually agree upon which of the array of AJC services are most beneficial to assist in a job search. Examples of AJC program referrals may include WIOA training, POAC, and specific training for ex-offenders, GED^® seekers, seniors, and other targeted populations.

The mutually agreed upon service is recorded in MWE and on the claimant’s Individual Reemployment Plan. The trainer follows the Individual Employment Plan to assure compliance with the agreement. If a claimant fails to follow through on agreed upon reemployment services within 45 days, they are referred to UI for adjudication. The ROW provides reemployment assistance to UI claimants not served by the RESEA program. ROW trainers provide services at AJCs. The goals of the program include shortening the duration of UI and connecting UI claimants to Employment Service programs. The delivery of reemployment services involves a coordinated approach, involving DUI, Wagner-Peyser, and WIOA Title I staff. ROW is open to all jobseekers, whether they are a current UI claimant or employed. Each profiled candidate is contacted regarding participation in a job finding and career enhancing workshop for a six hour presentation that covers, at a minimum, the job acquisition process, which includes self-assessment, career transition, employment related correspondence, and interviewing.

Local programs are encouraged to provide well-rounded programs with additional topics for customers and partners. Each workshop participant will know by the end of the workshop that successful employment is the ultimate goal, and all AJC staffers are available to assist with their job search. Each participant who completes the workshop receives job search assistance, beginning in the workshop, with emphasis on appropriate and necessary Labor Market Information. Self-assessment instruments, access to supportive services and partner agencies, and individual and group counseling (career guidance) are available. 

The workshop includes referral and access information to program staff, training, and additional resources. In addition, local training staff can access lists of workshop completers to provide follow up inquiries to potential dislocated workers. Job matching services, one-on-one conferences, follow-up activities, and meetings are used as tools to help customers obtain rapid reemployment. Each workshop participant is contacted for follow-up assistance and additional services.

Workshops are available that address interviewing skills, application preparation, résumé writing, social media, and job searches on the Internet. Participants access services and attend workshops at the AJC. Participants also receive referrals to upcoming job fairs and employer recruitment events and link with other AJC partners. Partners participate in the RESEA and ROW workshops to provide on-site information pertaining to employment or essential services.

Participants who need additional training to obtain employment are assisted through WIOA programs. With increasing numbers of LEP individuals filing UI claims, Maryland is responding to the need for Spanish-language workshops. Workshop materials have been translated into Spanish, and Spanish-speaking workshop facilitators provide Spanish-language workshops in the areas with the largest numbers of LEP claimants. Spanish-language services are available in the rest of the state as well.

DWDAL and the DUI continue to work collaboratively to ensure that staff questions, concerns, and challenges are quickly identified and addressed. There is great importance attributed to the fact that DWDAL and the DUI’s administration meet regularly, to orient themselves toward the highest standards for the RESEA program. Also, the Reemployment Program Manager and the UI Administrator host regular program staff meetings jointly to allow for frequent training and technical assistance in such areas as UI eligibility issues, fact finding processes, data system operations and reporting, site-specific issues from a more global perspective, and integration of the RESEA program into the AJC fabric. USDOL recently cited how impressed they were by the level of communication between DUI and DWDAL as it relates to collaborative work with UI claimants.