State Presentation:
October 11, 2011
 Benefit Year Earnings (BYE):
Root Causes Identified:

Agency Causes
 Failure to properly process New Hire Information
 Inadequate claimant education

Claimant Causes
 Claiming UI Benefits after return to work
 Under reporting earnings (net vs. gross)

Employer Causes
 Failure to report New Hire information timely
 Failure to respond to Wage Audit Notices
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 Benefit Year Earnings (BYE):
Planned action(s) to address:




Change SDNH to daily processing
Flag weekly certifications for an in-person contact
when New Hire hit detected
Develop an application to assess non-compliance
penalties for employers who do not report New Hires
Develop educational activities for claimants to keep
the focus on reporting earnings as required
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 Benefit Year Earnings (BYE):
Principal milestones:




December 31, 2011 – Have changes in place for
weekly certifications with new hire hits
March 31, 2012 – Changes with vendor for SDNH and
NDNH in production
March 31, 2012 – Full implementation of application to
allow employers to submit wage and audit notice
electronically.
April 30, 2012 – Changes tested and implemented for
Claimant educational activities
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 Separations (SEPs):
Root Causes Identified:
 Agency Causes
 Misapplication of UC Law
 Failure to obtain all necessary information during the factfinding process

Claimant Causes
 Failure to provide correct separating employer

Employer Causes
 Information provided late or not provided
 Incomplete or inadequate information supplied
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 Separations:

Planned action(s) to address:
 Provide on-going distance learning for adjudicators
 Complete and implement Single Line Adjudication Process
(SLAP)
 Enhance the claims web application to provide additional
searches for choosing the correct separating employer
and utilize tax databases for cross-match.
 Purchase and install SIDES.

Principal milestones:
 December 8, 2011 – attend orientation for SIDES
 March 1,2012 – SLAP fully implemented
 March 31, 2012 – Modifications to web claims application
completed
 September 30, 2012 – Distance learning pilot finished.
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 Job Service Registration and Work Search Issues:
Root Causes Identified:

Agency Causes
 Alabama JobLink system inactivated claimants too early
 Incorrect information regarding job service registration
provided to interstate claimants in closing statements
 Failure to timely review recall information for claimants
exempted from work search

Claimant Causes
 Incorrectly calculating or estimating recall to
work date
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 Work Search/Job Service Registration Issues :

Planned action(s) to address:
 Modifications to programming to ensure that claimants are not
inactivated in Alabama Joblink until exhaustion of benefits or
until claimant returns to work
 Additional information supplied to claimants who live out of
state advising to register with the nearest Job Service office
 Changing new claims application to require a definite return to
work date before work search exemption can be granted

Principal milestones:
 September 30, 2011 – programming to ensure active JS reg
 October 31, 2011 – Closing statements changed
 December 31, 2011 – Recall verification process completed
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 Issue 1: Base Period Gross Misconduct Disq.

Root cause(s) identified:
 Notice to base period employers are not mailed until benefits
have been paid based on separating employer eligibility.

Planned action(s) to address issue:
 Contract with imaging vendor to develop an
electronic application for employers to submit
separation information at the time the claimant
quits or is discharged. Thus, information will be
available at the time the claim is filed.

either
v
Principle milestones:
 Release RFP by December 30, 2011
 Select vendor and execute contract by January 31, 2012.
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 Strategies to Support Owning UI Integrity:

Encourage every staff member …etc.
 Convene a Cross Functional Task Force to analyze causes
for improper payments and develop a plan for improvement.
 Regularly publish articles in the departmental newsletter about
the importance of integrity and ownership by all employees
 Provide issue specific training based on issues discovered
during the BAM/BTQ reviews

Develop processes ….etc.
 Draft Strategic Plan for addressing improper
payments with deadlines specified
 Appoint UC Project Manager for preparing
all computer support requests identified
 Taskforce will evaluate Plan progress at least quarterly
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 Strategies to Support Owning UI Integrity:

Maintain management oversight…etc.
 BAM Supervisor will provide monthly reports to UC Assistant
Administrators.
 BTQ Supervisor will provide quarterly reports to UC Assistant
Administrators.
 UC Director will be invited to quarterly Taskforce meetings
and receive copies of all documents submitted as part of the
Strategic Plan as well as minutes of meetings.
 UC Director will take ownership of activities that require
coordination among agency Divisions
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 Communications Strategies:

To claimants (included in Benefit Year earnings tasks)
 Weekly certifications applications will be revised to clarify and
strengthen claimants return to work obligations.
 A claimant messaging system will be installed to broadcast
notices emphasizing penalties for failure to report earnings.
 Development of an online audio/visual presentation linked
from the new claims application to stress reporting
requirements and consequences of fraudulent acts.

To employers
 Evaluate quality and accessibility of employer information on
the DIR website. Form a committee to make
recommendations for changes. Invite selected employers to
participate in preview before implementation.
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 Communications Strategies, Continued:

To state UI staff (included in Everyone Owns Integrity
tasks)
 Coordinate with Human Resources and Internal Security to
ensure that new employee orientation information address UC
Integrity ownership to the highest degree possible.

To the public
 Continue to publish news releases on the agency’s
prosecutions for claimants committing fraudulent acts

To state leaders (Governor, state legislature, etc.)
 Offer legislation to make fraud penalties more punitive since
our previous Code amendments were not brought up for
a vote in the last session.
 Continue to cooperate with OIG’s office in federal
prosecutions.
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 Killer App:

Description of Issue:
 Alabama does not address base period employer separations
until after an eligibility decision is made on the separating
employer. Any benefits paid will be overpaid if a subsequent
disqualification for gross misconduct is assessed and base
period wages are deleted.

Description of Solution:
 Our current Administrative Rule allows for employers to protest
charging at the time of separation by mailing in documentation of
alleged gross misconduct. By allowing an electronic submission
of such separation information at the time of discharge,
employers will have timely information and the protest can be
addressed prior to any payments being made.
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 Killer App:

Anticipated results: (depending on employer participation)
 Timeliness and accuracy of decisions improved
 Improper payment reduction: estimated 10% after
implementation for a minimum of one calendar year
 Cost / Benefit explanation:
 No quotes obtained yet on cost of vendor developed application
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“Integrity: Own It!”
 Questions?
 State Contact for follow-up:
Martha.Johnson@dir.alabama.gov
Phone: (334) 242-8623
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