Good cause for late unemployment quality-control case completion

U.S. Department of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Washington, D.C. 20210
Classification: UI
Correspondence symbol: TEUQI
Issue date: March 13, 1990
Rescissions: [blank in source]
Expiration date: March 31, 1991
Directive: UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE PROGRAM LETTER NO. 18-90
To: ALL STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES
From: DONALD J. KULICK, Administrator for Regional Management
Subject: UI/QC—Procedures to Establish Good Cause for not Meeting Case Completion Timeliness Requirements

1. Purpose. To offer procedures for State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) to provide the Department with justification for not meeting the Quality Control (QC) case completion timeliness requirements.

2. Reference. ET Handbook No. 395

3. Background. The following time limits have been published in ET Handbook No. 395 for completion of QC cases:

   • a minimum of 70 percent of cases must be completed within 60 days of the week ending date of the batch, and

   • a minimum of 95 percent of cases must be completed within 90 days of the week ending date of the hatch.

   The Department's Annual QC Administrative Determination process includes a finding on timeliness of case completion. Failure to achieve the requirement could result in a SESA being asked to complete a corrective action plan (CAP) to be submitted with its annual Program and Budget Plan (PAP). It could also result in a footnote in the QC Annual Report stating the deficiency.

   However, ET Handbook No. 395 offers the following relief from the above-stated actions:

   If a SESA's rates for completion of cases sampled for investigation for any 12-month period ending December 31 are less than the time lapse requirements, the Department will determine, based upon information supplied by the SESA, whether or not good cause existed for not achieving the requirements.

   Therefore, if a SESA fails to complete 9S percent of the cases within 90 days, and it believes that such failure was attributable to reasons beyond its control, it may provide a written analysis to the Department as described in the procedures below. If the Department concurs with the SESA's conclusion that the requirement could not have been achieved, the CAP will not be required; and the footnote will not be published in the CC Annual Report.

4. Criteria for Justification. To obtain relief from the actions for, failure to achieve the timeliness requirement during calendar year 1989, a SESA must submit an analysis by April 13, 1990 of the reasons cases were delayed beyond 90 days. The analysis must cover all delayed cases if there are 30 or fewer. If the number of delayed cases exceeds 30, a random selection of 30 cases will be sufficient. The analysis must demonstrate that the requirement has been met when the uncontrollable cases are excluded from the time lapse. calculation. The following formula, which excludes delays outside SESA control by revising the base, demonstrates the calculation:

   Adjusted Timeliness = Timely Cases/Timely + Controllable Delays

   Example: SESA completed 774 of 900 eases timely (86%) Analysis of a sample of 30 of the 126 delays revealed that 7 (23.3%) were controllable by SESA.

   Compute controllable delays for entire sample:

   126 x 23.3 = 29 controllable delays
   

   Compute revised base:

   774 timely + 29 controllable delays = 803
   

   Adjusted timeliness = 774/803 = 96.3%

   If the analysis reveals that the "adjusted percentage timely" is at least 95 percent, the request can be accepted by the Department, providing the results (methodology and conclusion) can be verified by the Department.

5. Procedures. The analysis must utilize a sample frame of delayed cases from the entire calendar year. In order to include all such cases, the selection cannot be made until 90 days have lapsed from either (1) the last batch of the year or (2) the last delayed case. SESAs should plan accordingly in order to complete the analysis and submit it by the date prescribed.

   Each Regional Office (RO) possesses a software diskette that SESAs may obtain to facilitate gathering the data. This software identifies the delayed cases and provides individual worksheets for analyzing each case. Instructions for using this software are given in Attachment No. 1. (Note that the software contains additional instructions which are extraneous to this exercise.)

   Using these instructions, generate the printout of cases delayed over 90 days, then generate-worksheets for each of these cases. (If the number of cases delayed over 90 days exceeds 30 and the SESA chooses to sample, use the instructions in Attachment No. 2 to identify the 30 cases for the sample.)

   For each case, the worksheet contains identifying information and several dates from the record. Use the instructions in Attachment No. 3 to complete the worksheets. (It is important to note the distinction between what is controllable and uncontrollable by the SESA as opposed to the QC unit, as explained in section 4 of the instructions.) Attachment No. 4 is an example of a completed worksheet. Upon completion of the analysis of cases, compute the "projected percentage timely" via the instructions contained in section 4, above.

6. Action Required. SESA Administrators are requested to:

   a. Provide this information to appropriate staff,

   b. Determine whether or not an analysis of relayed QC cases is necessary, and if so,

   c. Complete the analysis and submit the results (including worksheets) to the RO by April 13, 1990.

7. Inquiries. Questions should he directed to the appropriate Regional Office.

8. Attachments

   No: 1 - Instructions for Using Diskette

   No. 2 - Instructions for Choosing Sample

   No. 3 - Instructions for Completing Worksheet

   No. 4 - Example of Completed Worksheet

Attachment 1 (https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl90/uipl_1890a1.htm)

UIPL 18-90 Attachment #1

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING DISKETTE

Contents. The diskette has four files:

a. MONITOR1 - creates two "Case Completion Frequency Distribution" reports. One gives the frequency by days, and the other gives the frequency by day ranges. (These reports are extraneous to the purpose of this exercise: however, the routine must be completed in order to create the files below.)

b. MONITOR2 - produces the "Time Study" report which lists several data fields associated with cases that have been completed in more than a given number of days (90 for this exercise).

c. MONITOR3 - produces "Case Analysis" worksheets for cases identified on the "Time Study" list.

d. SAVE5 - is used by MONITOR1.

Printouts. The following printouts can be produced from the files:

a. Case Completion Frequency Distributions

List of Delayed Cases

b. Worksheets for Analysis of Delayed Cases

Instructions for Producing Printouts. Note: " [cr] " press "Return" key.

a. Login.

b. Enter the operating system by typing "!sh[cr]"

c. Insert the diskette into the disk drive, making sure the arrows align.

d. At the system prompt, type "tar x [cr]"

The system will read the files: MONITOR1, MONITOR2, and MONITOR3.

e. At the system prompt, type "MONITOR1[cr]"

f. You will be prompted, "Enter Beginning Batch:" Type the beginning batch number (8901) in the range of interest, followed by [cr].

g. You will be prompted, "Enter Ending Batch:". Type the last batch number in the range of interest (8952), followed by [cr]. (The last batch should not be more recent than 90 days old.)

h. Wait.

i. Retrieve the Case Completion Frequency Distribution reports from the printer. (As stated in section 1 above, this report is extraneous, but the routine must be completed in order to generate the necessary reports.)

j. At the system prompt, type "MONITOR2[cr]".

k. You will be prompted, "Select cases completed in more than how many days". Enter "90", followed by [cr]. This will produce a report that includes all cases completed in more than 90 days. (Note that this software has other uses, i.e., it could be used to select cases completed in over 60 days.)

l. Wait.

m. Retrieve the Time Study report from the printer.

n. At the system prompt, type "MONITOR3", followed by a space, followed by case numbers to be selected (per instructions in Attachment No. 2), each separated by a space, followed by [cr]. For example, "MONITOR3 2 5 8 11 14[cr]" creates worksheets for cases numbered: 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14 from the Time Study list.

o. Retrieve the worksheets from the printer.

Attachment 2 (https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl90/uipl_1890a2.htm)

UIPL 18-90 Attachment 2

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHOOSING SAMPLE

1. Determine the Skip Interval. Divide the number of cases in the sampling frame of delayed cases (N) by the sample size (n) and round to the nearest integer to obtain. the skip interval (k).

   Examples:

   k = 60 / 30 = 2
   
   k = 77 / 30 = 2.56, round to 3
   
   k = 94 / 30 = 3.13, round to 3
   

2. Determine the Random Start Number. The table below contains a number for each SESA. Use this to select the random start number for the first case by multiplying the SESA's number by the number of cases in the sampling frame and.rounding to the nearest integer.

   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | AL | .987 | | IL | .596 | | MT | .509 | | PR | .238 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | AK | .576 | | IN | .758 | | NE | .630 | | RI | .226 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | AZ | .283 | | IA | .191 | | NV | .560 | | SC | .980 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | AR | .682 | | KS | .350 | | NH | .101 | | SD | .997 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | CA | .685 | | KY | .390 | | NJ | .430 | | TN | .397 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | CO | .954 | | LA | .924 | | NM | .551 | | TX | .507 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | CT | .629 | | ME | .988 | | NY | .789 | | UT | .765 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | DE | .167 | | MD | .445 | | NC | .796 | | VT | .328 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | DC | .042 | | MA | .316 | | ND | .570 | | VA | .981 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | FL | .284 | | MI | .791 | | OH | .044 | | WA | .927 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | GA | .604 | | MN | .353 | | OK | .064 | | WV | .758 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | HI | .178 | | MS | .651 | | OR | .086 | | WI | .465 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+
   | ID | .810 | | MO | .083 | | PA | .892 | | WY | .577 |
   +----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+---+----+------+

3. Identify Remaining Cases. Select every kth case following the first selection (r), where k is the skip interval, until n (30) cases have been chosen. If the end of the sampling frame is reached before n cases have been selected, return to the beginning of the frame and continue the systematic selection.

Attachment 3 (https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl90/uipl_1890a3.htm)

UIPL 18-90 Attachment #3

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING WORKSHEET

1. Identifying information. Complete the blanks of the first two lines. ("Case No." refers to the number on the Time Study list of cases.)

   The next six lines are downloaded or computed by the program and provide information from the case: SSN (a1), Batch (a3), Investigator ID (a6), KW Action (h2), Supervisor Review (h13), and Days which is a computation of the number of days it took to complete the case -- from the week ending date of. the batch (a3) to the supervisor completion date (h14).

2. Review of case folder. The next section of the worksheet is used to record information from the case folder and to identify factors that contributed to the delay. The first item, Week Ending Date, is preprinted by the program to show the week ending late of the batch. This date starts the measurement of time laps.

   For all remaining items, review the documentation in the case folders to (1) obtain the date of occurrence (certain items coup have more than one entry), (2) compute the number of days from the Week Ending Date, and (3) if the time was excessive, explain the circumstances:

   • Assigned. (preprinted from a7) The date the case was assigned to the investigator.

   • Claimant Interview. The date the claimant was interviewed and the Questionnaire was completed.

   • Wage Verifications.

   • Worksearch Verifications.

   • Other. Union verification, JS registration, OP determination, verification of lag period separation, verification of dependents, verification of citizenship, etc.

   • Summary. The date the investigator completed the Summary of Investigation.

   • Investigation Completed. (preprinted from hll) The late all work was completed by the investigator.

   • Supervisor Completed. (preprinted from h14) The date the supervisor signed off on the case (with or without review).

3. Comments. Use as needed.

4. Conclusion. Explain whether failure to complete the case timely was controllable or uncontrollable by the SESA, as opposed to just the QC unit. (E.g., waiting for an overpayment to he set. up by BPC is controllable.)

Attachment 4 is a handwritten example of a completed worksheet, available as a scanned image at https://oui.doleta.gov/dmstree/uipl/uipl90/uipl_1890a4.pdf. The example is not transcribed here.