The staffing industry exists to help both companies and candidates. As a staffing recruiter, it’s your job to help place qualified candidates into companies looking for new employees. It is understood that those candidates must be ready to work and accept jobs that are offered to them. While working with these candidates, many recruiters have realized that there are those collecting unemployment benefits who do not follow the requirements of the State UI Agencies for eligibility of the benefits they are collecting. This could be costing your Staffing Agency a lot of money. If you’ve noticed the same thing about the candidates you’re working with, take a look at the guidelines below to control unemployment insurance costs for your business.

Tracking of your candidates is probably the most important thing you can do when it comes to protesting UI claims. There are a few things you want to be certain are in your handbook or manual and in every employee’s file. They include:

Failure to Maintain Contact Policy

This policy states that the employee is required to maintain contact with your staffing agency to make themselves available for open positions. It costs you money and time to place candidates in jobs, so if an employee agrees to work with you, it is their responsibility to make sure they’re keeping contact regarding positions you find suitable for them. This law is not required in all states, so please check to make sure this applies to you.

Reporting Job Refusals

Many candidates you are working with are probably claiming unemployment benefits. If they have been interviewing for a job you found them, and they are offered that job and refuse it, the candidate is found to be ineligible for benefits for a period of time. There are specific details for an offer to be considered a “refusal of work” under the UI law. For instance, the offer must be a real, “Bona Fide” offer, which means there must be a start date, a pay rate that meets the state's requirements, a position which the candidate as performed in the past, and the offer must have been conveyed to the client directly either by phone, email, or in person. Penalties differ from state to state, so be sure to consider that when protesting.

Availability Issues

There are many small issues that you must have documented and available information for in order to protest UI claims. You want to be able to prove the candidate isn’t responding to calls or didn’t accept an offer. Here’s a list of the information you want to make sure you have:

• Did the candidate update their contact information with you after filing their UI claim? The candidate must give you their updated information so you are able to get a hold of them.
• Can you leave a message on their voicemail or is it full or non-functional? Basically, can you prove that you’ve been trying to reach them?
• Are they responding to emails or phone calls? Be ready to prove it if they’re not.
• Are they limiting their availability? For instance, will they not work certain types of positions, locations, or shifts? If so, you may be able to use that information in a protest.
  Are they out of the area or did they move? It’s crucial that the candidate let’s you know this information.
  
• The above information can limit the candidate's right to collect benefits under the Unemployment Law. If the candidate is still collecting benefits while guilty of any of the above, you might be able to file a protest.

After reading through the above guidelines, if you feel that a candidate(s) you are working with is ineligible for unemployment benefits, consider filing a protest. Be certain that you are very detailed with your descriptions - have names, dates, phone numbers and emails used, offer details, etc) and you’ll have a much better chance of winning. If your Staffing Agency begins to protest these UI claims, you will save a significant amount of money. For more information on these guidelines and other staffing related UI topics, visit us on the web at www.unemploymenttracker.com.