In accordance with Mississippi Code Annotated Section
71-5-11,
individuals must make an active search for full-time (35 hours or more) work in
order to receive unemployment insurance benefits. The Agency defines "actively
seeking work" as follows:
1. The
individual must register for employment services as prescribed by
MDES.
2. The individual must engage
in an active weekly search for full-time work and include an appropriate number
of employer contacts as prescribed by MDES and make contact with at least three
(3) employers each week. At least one (1) employer contact must include the
submission of an application for employment. Additionally, the work applied for
must be appropriate in light of the labor market and the individual's skills
and capabilities. An "application for employment" is defined as any completed
application or resume submitted to an employer that may reasonable be expected
to have an opening for for suitable work, either in-person, via mail, or via
electronic communication; or any telephonic or in-person interview with an
employer that may reasonably expected to have an opening for suitable
work.
3. The individual must
maintain and provide a record of his/her work search including the name,
address and phone number of the employer contacted, if contacted via electronic
means, the website, email address or fax number of the employer, the name of
the individual contacted, method of contact, and date of contact.
4. The individual cannot report the same
employer contact until three (3) weeks after it was first reported to MDES,
unless the employer contact is part of a progressive hiring process.
If an individual fails to comply with any of the above
stated requirements, the individual shall be disqualified from receiving
unemployment benefits for the week or weeks in which the violation or
violations occurred. The agency may impose more stringent penalties in
situations in which an individual is shown to be a habitual violator of the
requirements contained in this regulation.
Acceptable employer contacts may include, but are not
limited to:
a. Making a self-referral
for job openings via the MDES Online Employment Services System.
b. Visiting a local WIN Job Center for
staff-assisted job referrals and making employer contacts based on those
referrals.
c. Completing a job
application with employers who may reasonably be expected to have openings for
suitable work. The job application may be submitted in person, online, by fax
or in any other manner directed by the employer and appropriate for the type of
work the individual is seeking.
d.
Mailing a job application and/or resume as instructed by a job
notice.
e. Making in-person visits
with employers that may reasonably be expected to have openings for suitable
work.
f. Interviewing with
potential employers in person, by telephone or in any other manner directed by
the employer and appropriate for the type of work the individual is
seeking.
g. Attending a job fair
and submitting an application or providing a resume to employers in attendance.
The work search requirements for certain individuals may be
waived by the Agency for the following reasons: job attached (as defined by the
Agency), Jury Duty, Approved Training, and Approved Self-Employment Assistance
Program, individuals who are members in good standing of a union that maintains
a nondiscriminatory hiring hall, as that term is defined by the Landrum-Griffin
Act, and who maintain contact with and use the placement services of the hiring
hall. The Agency may also waive this requirement due to other extenuating
circumstances as determined by the Agency.
