Narrative: c.

Re-Employment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) Program

The focus of the RESEA Program in New Hampshire is two-fold – to assess the UI beneficiary’s current eligibility for UI and to ensure that the individual is aware of and taking advantage of the core and intensive re-employment services available in the American Job Center. The RESEA Program is exclusively administered by the American Job Centers, either in-person or virtually. UI beneficiaries selected for the RESEA Program are required to meet with an RESEA Staff person at the American Job Center nearest them or virtually utilizing virtual platforms. All selected RESEA claimants are required to attend an in-person orientation and to meet with an RESEA staff person for one initial RESEA visit and two subsequent RESEA visits for the duration of a selected RESEA claimant’s benefit year. As with all ETA Programs that are administered through the local American Job Centers, referrals to training and supportive services are made seamlessly at the American Job Center.

The profiling model is used to identify those claimants who do not have a return-to-work date and who are not customarily hired through the union hall. The process selects claimants with higher profiling scores to participate in the RESEA Program. These individuals have a higher likelihood of exhausting their UI benefits and being long-term unemployed. Currently, due to the low unemployment rate, New Hampshire is selecting all UI claimants that are in pay status and are required to search for work. The functionality of selecting those with higher profiling scores is still available for when the unemployment rate increases.

New Hampshire makes extensive use of the Worker Profiling and Reemployment Service (WPRS) model for early identification of claimants who are likely to face long-term unemployment. NHES administers a statistical model, to identify qualified UI claimants who will enter the UI Profile Pool. Answers to certain questions during the initial claim process and their resulting score are used to identify potential claimants. On a weekly basis, Employment Service staff in the NH Works Centers specify a number of claimants to be randomly extracted from the pool in their respective service area. A weekly report is produced listing the claimants ranked by their profiling score and who received a first payment in the previous week. Claimants with the highest score in the pool are selected to attend an orientation and receive one-on-one assessment and reemployment services. A letter is sent to each claimant selected for RESEA services notifying them of their selection, program requirements and services, and a date to report to an orientation at the One-Stop Center. Any claimants not selected by the fifth week of their claim series are automatically dropped from the list of possible RESEA selections. At the RESEA Orientation, claimants are advised that, they must self-schedule for RESEA 1-on-1 meetings online. A notice also appears on the claims home page.

The RESEA staff person can maintain a case management level of 72 participants for a full time RESEA staff person and a percentage of that number for a part time RESEA staff person based on the number of hours they work.

The group orientation session is held in-person at an AJC and averages about one hour. The orientation consists of a Power Point presentation explaining the level of work search efforts required each week while filing for UI, and the quality of work search documentation that must be provided as proof of these efforts. An overview of the reemployment services, (self-service, core, and intensive), available in the one stop is provided at the orientation session. In addition to the Presenter, the WIOA Counselor and the Veteran’s Representative participate in the RESEA orientation session to ensure details of the WIOA and Veteran’s Programs are fully explained to participants. A review of the labor market information available at the local level is provided. A portion of the UI initial claims process is the gathering and transferring of information to create a work registration in our Job Match System. At the orientation session, confirmation that the individual has a complete registration, including the demographic information, a resume, and the activation of the virtual recruiter, in the Job Matching System occurs. If the RESEA claimant has yet to complete these items in a more professional manner, the individual is directed to do so in the self-service center or from home prior to their first RESEA one-on-one meeting.

At the RESEA Orientation, the RESEA claimant is advised to self-schedule for an in-person visit or virtual appointment with the RESEA staff person on an average every three weeks. Since a firstpayment is required for selection, the first meeting occurs after the claimant has filed for three to four weeks of benefits. Each full-time Interviewer schedules between 4-6 appointments each day. If a selected claimant has not self-scheduled for a one-on-one interview, the RESEA Interviewer will contact the claimant and send the appropriate letter scheduling the claimant(s) selected for the one-on- one interview.

At the first meeting, the RESEA staff person and the claimant develop an Employment Plan that identifies the reemployment goals and the action items that must be completed by the claimant and/or the RESEA staff person to meet these goals. At the meeting, the claimant’s work search efforts for the prior weeks claimed are reviewed and critiqued. The RESEA person is required to document in NHUIS any advice or instructions they provided to the claimant relative to number of work search contacts to be made weekly, specific improvements the individual must make in their work search efforts for the next three weeks. A review of available job openings, and if appropriate, training needs are reviewed at the first meeting. A referral to the Employment Counselor Specialists or Career Navigators are made at the first (or subsequent) meetings when appropriate. This first one-on-one meeting with the claimant is scheduled for eighty (100) minutes including time needed for pre-meeting preparation.

All RESEA participants are required to self-schedule to return in three or four weeks for their subsequent meetings.  1st subsequent is slotted for 70 minutes including pre and post paperwork.  2^nd and final subsequent is slotted for 40 minutes including pre and post paperwork.  In addition to a review of the work search for the previous three weeks, the RESEA staff person reviews labor market information and the individual employment  plan.

Any claimant that has failed to improve on their work search efforts, after being so advised, is referred to an adjudicator to assess the claimant’s continued eligibility for benefits. If disqualified for failure to conduct a reasonable work search, the claimant will re-qualify for benefits once they have resumed and provided documentation of a reasonable work search.

RESEA Staff have direct access to the NHUIS to enter eligibility issues. Issues they typically enter are associated with inadequate work search efforts and failure to attend RESEA meetings. The ES Staff enters issues related to refusals of suitable work or job referrals. Once the issue is entered into the NHUIS, it is assigned to the respective adjudication center handling that labor market area. Once designated to a business unit, the issue is assigned to an adjudicator for review and resolution.

Claimants self-schedule the initial and both subsequent RESEA one-on-one meeting through NHUIS. Staff have the ability to schedule claimants having difficulty with the self-schedule.

Failure to report to the scheduled appointment results in the creation of an eligibility issue for an UI adjudicator to review. UI adjudicators determine whether good cause existed for the missed appointment. If good cause existed, the UI adjudicator will work with the RESEA Staff Person to schedule a new appointment in NHUIS. If good cause did not exist for missing the scheduled appointment, the UI adjudicator will deny benefits until the claimant has met with the RESEA Staff Person. Ability and availability for work are also reviewed by the adjudicator. The UI adjudicator will work with the RESEA Staff Person to schedule a new appointment in NHUIS. All missed appointments will be rescheduled at the earliest available opening and normally within the next week.

The RESEA claimant self-schedules for both subsequent meeting, in-person or virtual, with the RESEA Staff Person within three weeks. There may be circumstances where it is deemed that a claimant will have greater outcomes by defaulting all meetings to in-person for self-scheduling.  This is determined on a case-by-case basis by the AJC management.  In addition to a review of the work search for the previous three weeks, the RESEA Staff Person reviews labor market information, the Individual Reemployment Plan and provides reemployment services identified in the Individual Reemployment Plan.

Granite State Jobs Act of 2019

In September 2019, the Granite State Jobs Act of 2019 was introduced through legislation. This Act continues the Job Training fund, now known as WorkInvestNH, for training incumbent workers [MS1]  the WorkReady Program providing WorkKeys and soft skills training. The Act also provided funding to establish and operate the WorkNowNH Program and a Reentry Program.

The WorkInvestNH Program allows businesses that are located in NH or intending to locate in the State and pay quarterly taxes into the NH Unemployment Trust Fund, an opportunity to upgrade their workers’ skills. Employers can provide training to their incumbent staff located in NH. Funds may be used for structured training, onsite, classroom or training at a vendor’s facility, or online training in basic skills, technical skills, quality improvement, safety, management and supervision, English as a second language or other training that enhances the state’s workforce development.

Training funds are distributed on a cost-reimbursement basis after each training course is approved, completed, and paid for. The employer submits a copy of the invoice, proof of payment for the training and an evaluation of their training. Upon receipt of all documents, the employer is reimbursed fifty percent of the cost of the training.     

The WorkNowNH Program provides intensive case management services to individuals receiving either Expanded Medicaid or Traditional Medicaid. The program was developed to assist participants to obtain skills, remove barriers to employment and either enter the workforce or obtain better employment, while providing employers with needed employees to fill job openings.

Participants will receive intensive case management services in the AJC or these services will be provided virtually. Services will be determined based on assessments conducted at the time of enrollment in the program. Case management will include job search and job readiness assistance, referrals to training, education and apprenticeship programs, and referrals to services necessary to be job ready. Those that are job ready, will be referred to job openings or on-the-job training opportunities. Those not job ready, will be referred to local community providers for barrier mitigation. They will continue to be case managed by WorkNowNH staff and when determined the participant is job ready, referred to job openings and on-the-job opportunities.

Several support services are available to assist participants including training / tuition payments, assistance with payment of books, fees and supplies, travel reimbursement, and childcare registration fees. Also available are reimbursement payments to employers hiring through an on-the-job training opportunity.

The Reentry Program provides services behind the wall to participants that are soon-to-be released from state, county, and federal facilities. Services include workshops on AJC partners and services, resume assistance, interviewing skills, and job search skills. With support of local employers, mock interviews will be conducted as well as recruiting events and small job fairs within the correctional facility. These events will allow participants to practice what they have learned in the workshops and ensure they are job ready upon release.  These services will also be provided virtually when applicable.

Services will continue after release, as most will be eligible for expanded Medicaid and therefore eligible for the WorkNowNH Program. Participants will be referred to the nearest AJC and if necessary, personally introduced to the staff person that will be their contact in that AJC, either in person or through a virtual platform.

These programs are interwoven with several existing programs, including The Return-to-Work Program, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and the Federal Bonding Program. These programs provide supports and incentives for employers to hire from these underserved populations.