Miscellaneous MI 50 - Fact Finding Guide

Determinations on Alien Claims

Section 1264 (AL) Issues:

  1. Do all the wages in the base period belong to the claimant? (If not, delete those that do not belong to the claimant.)
  2. For any remaining wages, did claimant have work authorization while those wages were being earned?
  3. If not, what periods must be suppressed? (If some or all of the wages must be suppressed, issue Section 1264 (AL) disqualification for those wages in addition to requesting suppression of the wages.)
  4. If, after deletion of wages that are not the claimant’s and suppression of any wages that were not earned while the claimant was in a satisfactory immigration status, are sufficient wages remaining for a claim?

Section 1253(c) (A&A) Issues:

  1. Is the claimant work authorized at the present time? Since filing the claim? If not, issue disqualification under Section 1253(c).
  2. Can the claimant demonstrate to an employer that he/she is work authorized? If not, issue disqualification under Section 1253(c) unless there is an exception to the requirement (e.g., casual domestic worker, contract employee, independent contractor, "grandfathered" employee).
  3. If the claimant has a dated work authorization, when does the authorization expire?
  4. If the work authorization has already expired, has the claimant attempted to update it? With what result? If not, why not?
  5. If a secondary verification is required to determine satisfactory immigration status, is the returned G-845 a part of the file? (Benefits may not be delayed, denied, reduced, or terminated pending INS’s response to the G-845.)
  6. If the claimant has a visa but no indication of whether or not work has been authorized, has INS been contacted to determine the claimant’s employability? Has INS’s response been made a part of the record (recorded on the DE 2403)?

Irregular (IRR) Issues:

  1. With what regulation did the claimant fail to comply? How?
  2. If applicable: Was the claimant put on notice by DE 6315 AL or DE 238 CT that failure to comply could result in a disqualification and possible overpayment?
  3. If applicable: Was the claimant questioned to determine if good cause for failure to comply with the regulation was present? Was the claimant’s response documented?

Suitable Work (SW)Issues:

  1. Was the work suitable for the claimant in the first place?
  2. Why did the claimant not demonstrate his or her status to the employer? (An A&A or IRR issue may also be raised.)
  3. If the claimant did not have the necessary documentation to go to work, why did the claimant contact the employer?

Voluntary Quit (VQ) Issues:

  1. Was the claimant’s quit the result of his or her work authorization or immigration status? (If not, see appropriate chapter in BDG Volume VQ.)
  2. Did the claimant attempt to protect the job before resorting to a quit?
  3. Why did the claimant believe he or she had no choice but to quit?
  4. (Constructive quit): What did the claimant do, or fail to do, that brought about his or her separation? Did the claimant know, or should the claimant reasonably have known, that his or her actions would bring about the separation?
  5. (Constructive quit, failure to meet employer requirement): Was the employer requirement reasonable? Was the claimant adequately warned about the requirement?

Misconduct (MC) Issues:

  1. What did the claimant do, or fail to do, that resulted in his or her separation?
  2. How did the claimant’s actions injure or tend to injure the employer’s interests (e.g., expose the employer to sanctions. etc.)?
  3. (If applicable): Had the claimant been warned prior to separation (e.g., was the claimant told that he or she had to submit documents for the Form I-9 within three days after hire?)
  4. Did the claimant make a good-faith effort to comply with the employer’s requirement? Why did the claimant’s effort fail?

Efforts to Seek Work (ESW) Issues:

NOTE: Most ESW issues will be covered by A&A disqualifications, as the claimant’s failure to look for work will generally indicate an unavailability for work for the week in question.

  1. Did the claimant seek work? If not, why not?
  2. (If applicable): When did the claimant lose his or her status?
  3. (If applicable): When did the claimant lose his or her documents?