Section 2865.150  Profiling/Referral to Reemployment Services

a)         To determine the likelihood that the individual will exhaust regular benefits and will need job search assistance, the Department will profile each individual who files an initial claim for regular benefits.  Each claimant profile will be based on information contained in the claimant's initial combined application for regular benefits and Employment Service registration.

1)         Except as otherwise provided in subsection (a)(2), as part of the profiling process, the Department will assign each individual an exhaustion probability score that measures the likelihood that the individual will exhaust regular benefits and need job search assistance.  The score will be calculated according to a statistical model developed by the Department based on criteria approved by the US Department of Labor, including industry or occupation.

2)         No exhaustion probability score will be assigned an individual if he or she:

A)        has not been issued his or her first payment of regular benefits by the fourth week following the week in which he or she files his or her initial claim for regular benefits;

B)        satisfies the union hiring hall procedures set forth in Section 2865.50;

C)        has a definite date of recall to work;

D)        is unemployed as the result of a labor dispute; or

E)        has left work voluntarily.

b)         Each claimant who is assigned an exhaustion probability score shall be entered by the Department into a selection pool for the substate area in which the individual resides or a subdivision of that area where the substate grantee for the area has established subdivisions.  The substate grantee will each week select individuals in the selection pool for referral to available reemployment services in descending order of their exhaustion probability scores.  When two or more individuals in a selection pool have the same score and reemployment services are not available for all of them, the substate grantee will select for referral a number of them equal to the number of individuals for whom reemployment services are available, selecting the individuals whose initial applications for regular benefits have the earlier filing dates.  When two or more individuals in a selection pool have the same score and filed their initial applications for regular benefits on the same date and reemployment services are not available for all of them, the substate grantee will randomly select for referral a number of them equal to the number of individuals for whom reemployment services are available.  Whenever the availability of certain reemployment services is lawfully limited to individuals meeting specific characteristics, such as when the services are offered as part of an effort to assist in the location or expansion of an employer within the State, selections for referral to the services will be made as though individuals in the selection pool who do not meet those characteristics were not in the selection pool.

c)         The reemployment services to which an individual is referred under this Section will in all instances include an orientation meeting with an entity providing reemployment services within the substate area in which the individual resides.  Following the orientation meeting, reemployment services may also include: assessments; counseling; job placement services and referrals to employers; job search work shops or job clubs; and referral to more intensive services, such as training.  When an individual is initially referred by the Department to a reemployment service orientation meeting and then scheduled for reemployment services by an entity providing those services on behalf of the substate grantee that initially selected the individual for referral, the individual is considered as having been referred to the reemployment services by the Department, except when the entity indicates participation in the reemployment services is optional.

d)         The Department will send each individual selected for referral to reemployment services a referral notice that will include a statement regarding the obligation to participate in reemployment services and the potential consequences of failing to participate in the services, as well as all information necessary for the individual to report to the orientation meeting.

e)         The Department will remove from the selection pool any individual who, within four weeks after the week in which he or she is issued his or her first payment of regular benefits, is not sent a notice of referral to reemployment services. After being removed from the selection pool, an individual may still be referred to reemployment services, but he or she shall no longer be obligated to participate in reemployment services.

f)         For the purposes of this Section, "substate area" refers to an area established by the Governor under section 312 of the Job Training Partnership Act. "Substate grantee" refers to the entity designated as the substate grantee for a substate area under that section.

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 6522, effective May 14, 2019)