Arkansas Work Search Requirements
Actively Seeking Work:
You must be
making a reasonable effort to find suitable
work. This means making personal efforts to secure work by
contacting persons with hiring
authority, union local, etc., or
doing those things reasonable
for you to do in order to find
employment as soon as possible
You must also register with DWS Employment Services. You will
be required to contact
a specific number of
employers each
week. The number of
contacts assigned to
you should be entered
on the inside cover of
this handbook. If you have not been advised
of the minimum number of contacts to make
each week and it is not listed on the inside
cover, contact your local office for work
search instructions. If you file an application
for unemployment benefits by computer, the
required number of contacts will be shown on
your confirmation page. If you receive notice to
start recording your contacts and have either
lost or did not receive a handbook, report to
your local office to request one.
Unless you are exempt from the work search
requirements, you will be required to report
your job contacts beginning with the 13th or
19th week of unemployment compensation.
A notice will be issued to you alerting you
when it is time to begin recording your
contacts. (The 13th week or 19th are assigned
depending on the area where you live or
work.) You will need to refer to the section
at the back of this handbook entitled Notice
of Work Search Requirements for complete
instructions on the work search requirements.
You will be required to begin recording your
job contacts as indicated on the Job Contacts
Log located in the back of the handbook.
This
can be printed from the electronic version.
If
you are a union member, you may have chosen
to allow your union hiring hall representative
to make your job contacts for you. When
you receive your notice to begin recording
your work search, refer to the Work Search
Requirements for Union Members (Part B),
also located in the back of this handbook. You
must notify your union representative to begin
keeping appropriate documentation of the
weekly job contacts they make on your behalf.
Remember!
Failure to make the required work search
contacts in any week may result in an
ineligibility for benefits. Your work search activity is subject to audit by the DWS Benefit
Accuracy Measurement (BAM) program as well
as the DWS Benefit Payment Control (BPC)
unit at any time during the life of your claim.
THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY BEGINNING WITH THE FIRST WEEK THAT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO
RECORD YOUR WEEKLY JOB CONTACTS
1. Make your assigned number of job contacts each
week that you claim benefits.
2. At least one (1) of your contacts must be made in
person with an employer unless it is customary
for workers in your occupation to apply for work
by telephone or through correspondence or unless
you are applying for a job with an employer located
outside the labor market area where you live.
3. If you make a repeat contact with an employer, it cannot be accepted as one of your weekly work search
contacts, unless it is reasonable to believe that the
repeat contact will result in a job for you, or unless
the employer has asked that you come back at a
later date.
4. If you are not registered with DWS Job Service, you
must register with the Job Service when you are
advised to do so by the local office staff. You must
come in to the local office when you are advised to
do so by the local office staff.
5. Contacts you make with the Job Service can be
counted as work search contacts in the following
manner: (1) One contact for the week in which you
fill out your work application; (2) One contact for
any week in which you report to the Job Service
as a result of a call-in from them; (3) One contact
per month if done in accordance with instructions
provided to you by the local office.
6. Contacts you make for work through a private employment agency can be counted in the following
manner: (1) Registration with a private employment
agency will be counted as one job contact for each
such agency, but will be counted only one time in
any one continuous period of unemployment, and (2)
Each job contact made as a result of a referral by a
private employment agency will be counted as a job
contact, provided it is listed in your Job Contacts
Log with the items of information required for a job
contact.
7. Any efforts you make to find work other than
those described in items #2 through #6 may be
acceptable. However, only one (1) such effort will be
accepted as one of your weekly work search contacts
for the week being claimed.
8. You should record your work search activities each
week. You have been given a Job Contacts Log
(located in this handbook) for you to record all job
contacts. You must document the following information each week: 1) Show date of each contact; 2)
Show name and address of employer contacted; 3)
Show method of contact; 4) Name of person contacted; 5) Type of work sought; 6) The result of the
contact; and 7) Application or resume on file. FAILURE TO RECORD ALL ITEMS WILL CAUSE YOUR
BENEFITS TO BE DELAYED OR DENIED.
9. Be sure that the information you enter regarding your
job contacts is accurate and complete. Your work
search contacts may be checked by the local office
or our Quality Control Department.
10.As your length of unemployment increases and you
have been unable to find work in your customary or
secondary occupation, you may be required to seek
other types of work for which you are qualified and
for which job openings exist and you may be required
to increase your job contacts.
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BEGIN RECORDING
YOUR WEEKLY JOB CONTACTS IN THE JOB
CONTACTS LOG PROVIDED IN THIS HANDBOOK
UPON WRITTEN NOTIFICATION BY DWS.