Home » CLAIMANT GUIDANCE ON WORK SEARCH REQUIREMENT
Starting on 8-1-21 (week ending 8-7-21) in order to remain eligible for PUA, claimants must continue to be unemployed due to a valid Covid-19 related reason and must meet the work search requirement as required in Hawaii regulations.
WORK SEARCH REQUIREMENT:
To be eligible for PUA benefits, you must be able and available for work, unless your Covid-19 qualifying reason is due to a pandemic related illness. Regulations state:
“An individual shall be deemed available for work only if the individual is ready and willing to accept employment for which the individual is reasonably fitted by training and experience. The individual must intend and wish to work, and there must be no undue restrictions either self-imposed or created by force of circumstances which prevent the individual from accepting employment.”
If you are unable to search for work, then you are not eligible for benefits, with some exceptions related to the pandemic or certain medical conditions. For more information, refer to the “Laws and Regulations” section at the end of this guidance.
1. Claimant must be registered with the state employment agency (America’s Job Center).
America’s Job Center job bank is hireguam. Claimants must complete their work history and background information for registration with the state employment agency to be complete. To accomplish this Go to your hireguam “Dashboard and under My Personal Profile, click the My Background link and update all the information needed for you to establish a resume within the system
The system will take your background page. Click on the “Start the Background Wizard” link
You will be asked information on your education, job qualifications, employment history and skills. Make sure to have your information ready so you can answer these questions.
Tutorials are available in the learning center on your hireguam dashboard.
2. PUA claimants must make 3 work search contacts per week.
Note: If you are self-employed or currently working at reduced hours (and have reported earnings for the week) then you are exempt from this requirement.
Acceptable work search contacts are:
• Applying for work, submitting resumes or interviewing with potential employers;
• Registering for work with a private employment agency or placement facility of a school, college or university;
• Utilizing employment resources available at employment offices that identify the individual’s skills in occupations in demand in the local labor market area;
• Attending job search seminars, job clubs, or other employment workshops that offer instruction in improving an individual’s skills for seeking and obtaining employment; and
• Conducting other work search activities which are made by individuals in the same or similar occupation who are genuinely interested in obtaining work or as may be provided by the department.
Work Search Record:
Regulations require claimants to maintain a record of all work search contacts and the claimant may be required to submit such record upon request by the department.
Best practices: Upload your Record of Contacts to your PUA account every 2 weeks to assist PUA staff in resolving any issues quickly. At some point you may be contacted by PUA staff to review your record.
Verification:
Under regulations, PUA staff may verify your job contacts. Should you be contacted, you may be asked to produce your record through email or in person.
You may be asked to provide additional information if your record is incomplete or if information on your record is insufficient. You do not need to have prospective employers sign off or provide verification, but you must log enough information in your record so verification with the employer can be made, if necessary.
You must comply with PUA staff’s request for documents and meet any deadlines issued. Should you fail to comply, you may be disqualified from receiving benefits.
Remember: Falsifying your Record of Contacts may be construed as fraud and there may be legal consequences for such fraud or misrepresentation.
Hireguam Work Search entry:
In addition to keeping your work search record, you will also be asked to input your work search contact on your PUA weekly claim certification. Make sure to enter the same information that you logged on your manual Record of Contacts sheet. The PUA program has developed a video tutorial to help claimants with this task.
Entering jobs that you applied for is relatively easy and can be accomplished by simply following the prompts in the system. Please keep in mind that you cannot enter the same employer multiple times in the weekly claim certification.
If you are entering the alternate work search contacts, here are some tips:
• Registering for work with a private employment agency or placement facility of a school, college or university;
o In the “Employer” field, enter the name of the employment agency or educational institution and their address
o Complete the other questions relative to your job interest
o In the APPLICATION INFORMATION section, enter the date that you contact the agency.
» Click on “Applied for the Job” and enter a date.
» In the “Notes” section, indicate that your work search contact was from registering with an employment agency or placement facility.
» You may only use this as 1 contact for that particular week.
• Utilizing employment resources available at employment offices that identify the individual’s skills in occupations in demand in the local labor market area;
o In the “Employer” field, enter the name of the employment office and their address
o Complete the other questions relative to your job interest
o In the APPLICATION INFORMATION section, enter the date that you visited the employment office.
» Click on “Applied for the Job” and enter a date.
» In the “Notes” section, indicate that your work search contact was from visiting the employment office
» You may only use this as 1 contact for that particular week.
• Attending job search seminars, job clubs, or other employment workshops that offer instruction in improving an individual’s skills for seeking and obtaining employment;
o In the “Employer” field, enter the name of the seminar, job club or workshop and the address where the event was held
o Complete the other questions relative to your job interest
o In the APPLICATION INFORMATION section, enter the date that you attended the event.
» Click on “Applied for the Job” and enter a date.
» In the “Notes” section, indicate that your work search contact was from a seminar, job club or employment workshop (whichever is applicable)
• Conducting other work search activities which are made by individuals in the same or similar occupation who are genuinely interested in obtaining work or as may be provided by the department. Note: These types of activities are typically specialized based on practices in specific industries.
o In the “Employer” field, enter the name of the activity and where it occurred
o Complete the other questions relative to your job interest
o In the APPLICATION INFORMATION section, enter the date that you attended the activity.
» Click on “Applied for the Job” and enter a date.
» In the “Notes” section, indicate that your work search contact was from attending the activity and explain what the activity was and how it may have resulted in employment in your desired field.
Non-compliance with work search requirement:
Should you fail to enter 3 work search contacts, an active non-monetary eligibility issue will be generated by the system and an adjudicator will have to determine if you are eligible for the week in which you failed to comply.
If eligibility is in question, additional fact finding will be necessary in order for PUA staff to make a proper decision. If you find yourself in this situation, make sure to monitor your hireguam message center and your email for messages from PUA staff. Also make sure to comply with any deadlines for contact or information as failure to comply will affect your eligibility.
EXEMPTIONS: Claimants who are self employed or who are partially unemployed (currently working at reduced hours) are exempt from the work search requirement. However, the Hireguam PUA system currently does not have functionality to automatically determine the difference between types of unemployment (total, partial or self employed).
Exempt claimants will still be asked if they looked for work.
When asked: “…did you make any job contacts in the week beginning Sunday….” You should indicate NO.
This may temporarily generate an active issue on your account, however, the system is set to automatically resolve the issue if you indicate that you worked and you had entered your earnings.
If you are a partially unemployed claimant or self employed and had no earnings for that week, you will need to contact the PUA office to have the active issue resolved. When talking to a PUA representative, make sure to indicate that you are currently working under reduced hours or are self employed, so they will know that you may be exempt.
Be prepared to provide a contact person from your employer who may be able to verify that you continue to be employed at reduced hours.
In spite of being on reduced hours status, if you had not worked for four (4) weeks or more, then you may be considered laid off and not exempt from the work search requirement.
MORE INFORMATION:
For more information on the Work Search requirement, contact PUA representatives at 311, option 6
For assistance with completing your hireguam registration, you may contact America’s Job Center staff at 475-7000
For the Regulations governing the Work Search requirement click here.