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May 17, 2021
Rhonda Gerharz: Chief Investigator for the Special Investigations UnitJason Caputo talks with Rhonda Gerharz, Workers Compensation Chief Investigator for the Special Investigations Unit.
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SPEAKERS
Rhonda Gerharz, Jason Caputo
Jason Caputo: 00:00
Hello, and welcome. You're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and workforce development podcast series, where you'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. I'm Jason Caputo, my guest is Rhonda Gerharz, Chief Investigator for the Special Investigations Unit, which is in the workers' compensation division of the Department of Labor. Rhonda, thanks so much for joining me today and talking about what you do over at workers compensation.
Rhonda Gerharz: 00:29
Thank you, Jason. I'm really glad you asked me to be here today. Thank you.
Jason Caputo: 00:32
Yeah. So I just want to kind of set the stage, because workers compensation is a whole bunch of things going on over there. I wonder if you could explain what the Special Investigations Unit does at workers compensation?
Rhonda Gerharz: 00:47
Sure, Jason, I'd be happy to do that. We were created by the legislature in 2005. To investigate allegations of fraud, either by an injured worker, an employer or a care provider under the workers comp act. We're also responsible for compliance under the Workers Comp Act, meaning compliance with anything under the Act, but with employers having workers compensation, and classifying their employees properly in that kind of thing.
Jason Caputo: 01:15
Right. So really important aspects to make sure that that program works well. So, next question is why, why workers compensation? Why do we have such a program?
Rhonda Gerharz: 01:27
That is an excellent question. A lot of people don't know the history of workers compensation. It actually started with the Industrial Revolution back in the late 1800s. It was referred to as the Grand Bargain for all the history buffs out there. What it provided for was a no fault insurance system for workers who got injured on the job so that they could get medical treatment, wage replacement benefits, possibly reemployment training so that they can return to work fast. It's known, at least here in Alaska, it's the exclusive remedy for injured workers. So if employers do have workers comp insurance, then there's no threat of an expensive and protracted lawsuit. So it really protects both sides. That's the beauty of workers compensation is it is as much to protect our businesses here in Alaska as it is to protect workers. The whole idea is to prevent expensive and protracted lawsuits. All 50 states adopted worker's comp laws. To my knowledge, at least today, only one state has any provision for opting out of workers comp, and that's Texas. But basically workers comp, everywhere, pretty much everywhere is mandatory. It's not voluntary and not so in the state of Alaska. The most important thing is, like I mentioned before, it's really a win for both sides, both Labor and Industry.
Jason Caputo: 02:47
Right. And that's key to that is, as you said, it's no fault insurance for workers when they get injured so they can get all those the things they need, like medical treatment and wage replacement. And it's done in a way that it's not going to be incredibly expensive and inefficient, through expensive lawsuits.
Rhonda Gerharz: 03:06
Excellent, yes.
Jason Caputo: 03:06
Yes, that's a great way to great, great reason to have such a program. So are there any, do all businesses have to have workers comp? Are there any that are exempt?
Rhonda Gerharz: 03:18
Well, different state laws are different Here in Alaska, there is no such thing as any particular industry that's exempt. The way the Alaska workers comp Act works, is exemptions are about individuals and primarily by job type duties. So it's, it's about also whether or not an employer employee relationship exists, or whether a business owner has enough ownership interest in the business that that business owner is not considered an employee. I'll provide some links for you for the specific job duty exemptions to go with this podcast if that'll be helpful for you.
Jason Caputo: 03:56
Yeah, that's great. So any, any, we'll have the links in the description of the podcast. So if you're listening, and Rhonda mentioned sources of information that she's provided links, you'll find all those in the description on in the podcast itself and on the podcast page.
Rhonda Gerharz: 04:16
One of the things I do want to point out one of the things that's most misunderstood that we find in our unit with the workers comp act is the term independent contractor. So under the workers compact, and even with other divisions within the Department of Labor, it's actually Alaska law that determines independent contractor status. Some folks think that if they just issue a 1099, or just say that someone's an independent contractor that's sufficient. That's not how it works under Alaska law. The other confusing part that folks have trouble with is that our definition of independent contractor and what constitutes employer employees relationship is different from the IRS definition. Also again, different within the other department of labor divisions, everybody determines that relationship differently with a slightly different theme. So we do have our own specific definition, and it is the independent contractor definition. Again, that'll be part of the link materials. But the important thing to remember about that is that all the criteria must coexist in order for someone to actually be considered an independent contractor who doesn't have to be covered by worker's comp. The owner exemptions actually go by entity type, whether someone's a sole proprietor or partner, partners and sole proprietors are exempt under our act, they don't have to insure themselves, but they still do absolutely have to ensure any workers who work for them. LLC members and corporate officers who have 10% or more ownership interest are also exempt from the act, they are considered owners, not employees. But again, they still have to insure their employees. We here do recommend employers actually check into whether or not they can opt in to insure themselves. Sometimes they would I mean, sometimes that's a reasonable way to have some insurance that doesn't pay just for medical. But if an employer gets injured while working alongside their employees, they would be entitled to the same benefits, reemployment benefits, wage loss benefits as well as medical treatments. So we always try to convince people to at least check on to that to see whether it would be financially feasible or not. Because some health insurance companies absolutely deny claims for medical treatment, if it's if it happens in the workplace. So it's good to look into that.
Jason Caputo: 06:44
Right. So that's great to sum up that there are exemptions. Some of it is a little complicated, really, depending on the specific situation. So it's a it's a good idea for people to contact workers compensation and business owners and find out really, where do they fall, if they're unsure, they could contact them and figure out whether they where they fall under the exemptions. But that even if they are exempt, they may want to look into getting that insurance anyway, if it's possible, because there's some benefits there. And it might be the cost effective thing to do. Did I say all that correctly.
Rhonda Gerharz: 07:20
You absolutely did. Jason and you know, everyone has to make their own individual decision on that. It's, you know, that everybody has their own individual circumstances. And so we just, we just recommend that they check into it just in case.
Jason Caputo: 07:37
So, absolutely. Well, and you know, maybe following on that, you know, if someone chooses to go without worker's compensation, what are the risks? Is it you know, some people might feel like, oh, it's just gonna be cheaper, I'm just gonna take the chance. And I don't have any costs out of pocket right away, but what are the risks there?
Rhonda Gerharz: 07:56
Yes, there's there are significant risks, Jason, in our experience, paying the premiums is a whole lot cheaper than paying for an uninsured injury, and also a separate penalty for failing to insure. So we've had folks we've had cases here where it seems to be like maybe a small injury, maybe a cut on a thumb or something, and an employer doesn't have insurance. So they might take that employee to go get that thumb stitched up at the at the little corner. You know, they're not emergency rooms, but they're little the medical clinics where you can go in with an emergency and get stitched up. Okay. We've had cases before where those kind of seemingly innocuous injuries have actually turned into major infection that caused need for serious medical treatment hospitalization for days, I think folks probably understand how expensive it is any kind of medical treatment is and hospitalization can turn into hundreds of 1000s of dollars those costs add up. Employers who do not have insurance or actually have to pay for those medical treatments along with wage loss benefits. And if that worker can't go back, that injured worker cannot go back to the job they used to do then potentially have to pay for reemployment benefits too. These uninsured injury cases are far more likely to put a business out of business than paying the workers comp premiums in the first place. It's also a lot of stress for an employer to have to deal with that on their own. If they have workers comp insurance, that's what their claims administrator does for them. Lack of coverage doesn't prevent claims. If there's no insurance, the injured worker can file their own report of injury and pursue a claim or they can file a lawsuit in state court and get significant damages as well. So and it's also actually another worker's compact. It's also failing to pay for compensable benefits related to workers compensation is actually a crime punishable by jail, on top of having to pay the benefits. So there it's very significant. And then of course, our office would be notified of an uninsured injury and then we would have to investigate the failure to ensure penalty portion, which is a separate case.
Jason Caputo: 10:11
Well, that seems incredibly clear. Why, why you need to figure out, do you have to have workers comp, one should probably do unless there's an exemption. And if you have to get it, you should get it because my goodness, that's from jail time to incredible medical costs, to just the incredible stress of going through all that. on your own. So, thank you. That's, that's really clear the value there of having workers comp insurance. So we talked very clearly about how it affects the employer just now. We know it affects the worker, obviously, because they're gonna they're the one who's injured and needs those benefits and things, medical services. But how about the community itself? If a business says, I'm not going to do this, I'm not going to, you know, comply. And I'm going to try and avoid having workers comp, are there negative consequences for the community?
Rhonda Gerharz: 11:08
Oh, absolutely, Jason. Obviously, it's an effect on the injured worker, if they can't work, and they're not protected, they may feel forced to turn to other resources just to survive, such as government aid programs. When businesses aren't compliant, it also creates an unfair advantages for the businesses that do play by the rules. So if businesses are not paying workers comp premiums, or abiding by other labor laws, they have the opportunity to under bid those businesses who are in compliance with all the laws and protecting themselves and their workers. When businesses aren't compliant, they also put other businesses with whom they contract at extreme risk. Under the workers comp act, businesses contracting with each other, as well as the project owners are all jointly liable for uninsured injuries. So we really, really, really always stress please, please, please don't contract with uninsured businesses. And so the question we get in response to that is, well, if I don't have any employees, why would I want to get insurance? That's the reason right there. You want to make sure that you're protecting yourself against any subcontractors who aren't insured. And yes, it is possible to get a worker's compensation policy, even if you don't have employees. Highly, highly, highly recommended, even if you're not legally required to do so. It really protects everyone, but mainly the business who is doing the right thing for the right reason. And that's who we want to protect.
Jason Caputo: 12:43
Right. Right. And I that's very interesting. I hadn't thought about how it kind of that ripple effect across the whole economy of Alaska where it creates these problems with other businesses, not only the business that's not compliant, but then the businesses they do business with, or they're bidding against. So it's a good example of how have these laws to make sure that Alaska's economy is as healthy as possible, that these are really good choices to follow these programs so that we win as a state together, because we're all following the smart rules. So thank you. That's. So we've covered we've covered how it, how it affects businesses, how it affects how it's good for workers, it's good for businesses, it's good for the community, to have the to be compliant with workers compensation. But you mentioned something and I don't I don't want to overlook it too much. You mentioned some criminal consequences, some legal consequences. Can you talk more about that, because I don't want to skip that?
Rhonda Gerharz: 13:41
Sure. Jason, no problem, um, the potential criminal consequences for non compliance. They're very significant. mentioned a little bit about Miss classification of employee labor that employers can't just, quote deem someone to be an independent contractor. If they are found to intentionally have misclassified employee labor that's actually a Class B felony under the workers comp back failing to pay for workers comp benefits that are due to an injured worker is either a Class B or Class C felony and that just depends on the total cost of benefits related to the injury. Another crime under the worker's comp act is charging any of the employees for all or a portion of worker's comp premiums that's not allowed and that can that can result in misdemeanor charges.
Jason Caputo: 14:28
Wow. Okay, good so that yeah, that definitely spells it out this is this is not something to mess around with these are these are felonies and easy way to avoid it. If you're unsure if you qualify. Contact workers comp and make sure that you comply with the rules. Now I heard something I'm pretty sure this is not true. Can't workers just waive workers compensation was a question that I've heard before. Can you speak to that?
Rhonda Gerharz: 14:55
I can speak to that, that is also a common misconception. Under the workers comp act, no. Any agreement, whether it's written or verbal or anything else, for anyone to waive benefits to which they would otherwise have been entitled, under our act, that is considered an invalid agreement, so it would not work as a defense.
Jason Caputo: 15:17
Okay. Okay. So that's great. We so much good information here. I definitely have learned a lot personally, and I hope our audience has as well. Is there anything else that you'd like Alaska businesses to know about this program?
Rhonda Gerharz: 15:33
Yes, what we want our Alaska businesses to know is we want to be your partners in success. Although we are a compliance agency, and it feels punitive every time that we're involved in anything. We do believe here at SIU, that Alaska is open for business, we want to be your partners in success. And, you know, being associated with a business, here in Alaska translates to vulnerability for liability and so many areas, in our experience most successful businesses of all put compliance with labor laws first, we know it isn't easy to have a business, we really, really know that between local state federal laws, honestly, our office cannot appreciate enough those of those out there who are willing to own and operate a business. We're responsible for compliance here. But we are also human beings, we do feel bad when we see businesses suffer financially, due to failure to insure penalties or uninsured injuries. We try really hard to be proactive and to educate. we'd much rather do that than being reactive and punitive. So please, please, please use us to your advantage. We have a website online verification of coverage system where folks can actually go and see whether or not somebody is insured. That's a matter of public knowledge in Alaska, you can go in and see if someone is insured. can also call us for compliance checks. Call us with any questions, we're more than happy to answer questions. One thing I do want to point out, too, that is important for our Alaska businesses to know that out of state businesses must also bind insurance in the state of Alaska. We don't have any reciprocity agreements with any other states. All businesses are subject to the exact same financial burden here for working in Alaska and having employees working in Alaska. Our office enforces that. So we don't want outside businesses to unfairly compete for Alaska work. So please let us know if you if anybody's here, we rely on those tips, let us know we will investigate. And we will make sure they are held accountable for having the same kind of workers comp premiums that our Alaska businesses are required to have. We also have online and I'll provide it for the podcast and employers guide to the Alaska Workers Compensation Act. But again, we just really want to be your partners in success. Please use this to your advantage
Jason Caputo: 17:55
Wonderful information. And a great note to end on that this is really about helping Alaska employers, businesses and workers and the communities succeed. So thank you so much. I've learned quite a bit. This has been the Alaska Department of Labor and workforce development podcast. Thank you Rhonda for talking about workers compensation with us today. And thank you, listeners for joining us. We hope you found the show informative, and that you'll join us for our next podcast.
April 15, 2021
Christina Lewis and Heather Miley from the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health consultation and training section discuss COVID 19, and how to stay safe Contact AKOSH (800) 656-4972
Visit the AKOSH website
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SPEAKERS
Christina Lewis, Heather Miley, Jason Caputo
Jason Caputo
Hello, and welcome. You are listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and workforce development podcast series, where you'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. I'm Jason Caputo and my guests today are Christina Lewis and Heather Miley. They're from the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Consultation and Training section. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Heather Miley
Thank you for having us.
Christina Lewis
Thank you.
Jason Caputo
So today we're going to be talking about, obviously, a very important topic to Alaskans and people all over the world - our current COVID-19 pandemic. And I understand you have a lot of really good, important, helpful information for us on this. So I'm really glad that you have joined us today. I'm just going to start out with a series of questions. You know, in our homes, in our offices, many of us wipe down new purchases like groceries, and we're sanitizing high-touch surfaces, areas that we come in contact with often. Are there some other strategies we can use to stop the spread of COVID-19?
Heather Miley
Alright, so that's a very good question. Thanks for asking that. So if you're speaking about your home, as we move into this wonderful Alaska summer, increasing your ventilation is a really great strategy. And that could be with an air purifier. Again, great Alaska summer, you can have natural ventilation by opening some windows, get some nice breeze in. For those who may be feeling ill, we definitely advise to keep the ill people separate from the healthy people. So, in your household, if you have somebody who is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or has been positively tested with COVID-19, we really recommend sequestering them in their own bedroom, them taking their own meals in their bedroom. They could, ideally, best practice would be to have them with a separate bathroom, preferably attached to the bedroom, so they're minimizing foot traffic throughout residence. They can hand-wash, shower, do all the essential duties to life in that confined space. Until they are no longer symptomatic. And then they can rejoin the rest of the household.
Christina Lewis
And if we're talking about the workplace, you'll want to modify your work spaces. So if you're sitting in an office environment, it's a really great idea to know change things around, make sure that we're all six or more feet apart. If you work and in a situation where six feet apart is not a possibility, maybe you have to collect cash, it's a good idea to install some type of partition, Plexiglas or something like that, that would catch any type of sneeze or cough. You do want to improve air filtration if possible, and increase the ventilation in the workplace and use natural ventilation if possible. You'll want to stagger your work shifts. So maybe you have certain people who will come in at five, other people doing that same type of job may come in at seven, and break times should be staggered as well so that we're not filling the break room personal areas with multiple people. The idea as we know by now is to minimize or reduce our occurrence by staying out of crowded spaces and having increased ventilation.
Jason Caputo
So you guys cover not only businesses, but we're going to cover some stuff for just everyday people. So let me switch over to those questions. A little bit lighter subject, and I'll talk about my personal issue. With all the hand sanitizing that we're doing with hand sanitizers these days, those of us with sensitive skin kind of can have difficulty with that. Do you have any recommendations on how to stay safe, sanitized, with our hands but without the skin issues of hand sanitizers?
Heather Miley
That's actually a really great question. So washing your hands with soap and water, that has to do with the lipids and the protein barriers of the virus just like totally disintegrating it, it's a very effective way of removing the virus from your hands. So you should still be washing your hands even if we tout "hand sanitize, hand sanitize, hand sanitize" to the point that the stores don't have enough hand sanitizer. We're having to enlist distilleries to manufacture hand sanitizer. We can't substitute completely for hand washing. You still have to hand wash. And when you're hand washing, you can go and select soaps that are for sensitive skin. But that requires a little bit of experimentation to figure out which brand is better for you.
Christina Lewis
Yeah, and so when you talk about sanitizing, sanitizing is really a reduction of bacteria and viruses on your hands. And the only way to really do that is if your hands are already clean. Right? So definitely hand washing.
Jason Caputo
Right, right, right. Makes perfect sense. So yeah, if you sanitize dirty hands, you still have dirty hands. You have to wash those hands first.
Christina Lewis
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And dry skin can increase your risk for picking up viruses and bacteria. So in addition for those with sensitive skin, to choosing a soap that's for sensitive skin, you also want to just get a hand moisturizer or some kind of lotion to help you. And then of course, as we've said, since the beginning of the pandemic, which we should probably carry on, you know, throughout life, is when we're out in public with unwashed hands, we avoid touching our eyes, nose and mouths with our unwashed hands.
Jason Caputo
Great tips. Thank you very much. So let's skip I'm going to be I'm going to be kind of going all over the place here, because you guys cover such a lot of good information. For people, now we've got the vaccines are up and running, and people are now in Alaska getting their second vaccines even, but I've heard that it's still important for people who have received their vaccines to continue wearing face coverings or masks in public. Can you talk about why? Why is that still an important thing to do?
Christina Lewis
Well, the vaccine, it doesn't, it doesn't stop you from getting the virus. It prepares your body for a fight. The vaccine does not prevent us from getting the virus, and it does not prevent us from spreading the virus. So if I get the virus, the vaccine may help me to not develop symptoms. Or if I'm going to develop symptoms, they may be mild rather than severe. But I can still get the virus, and I can still spread the virus.
Heather Miley
Something that's really powerful about viruses and bacteria is they really hijack the mechanisms that your body uses to fight an infection. So we typically don't go sneezing and coughing around in our normal day-to-day lives, and this virus is spread by these aerosolized droplets that you generate all the time. We're generating them right now by talking, but I mean, just simply breathing is enough to release these droplets into the air. And when you're talking, Im sorry, when you're coughing or when you're laughing or sneezing or whatever increased activity, that is increasing the amount of droplets spread. Its important to use those masks to prevent the spread.
Christina Lewis
Right. So I love that, I've always had a really healthy respect for microorganisms because I like to think of them, as you know, they're smart enough to make us cough and sneeze and rub our noses so that they can continue from generation to generation, us completely unaware. But let's say I've had the vaccine, and I don't have any symptoms, nor do a couple of people around me. But say we get together for a large dinner, and we're laughing and talking and singing, then I might not be sneezing or coughing, but I am exerting more of these droplets into the air. And if I'm asymptomatic, and somebody who maybe has an underlying condition and sitting across from me, and they don't have the vaccine, they could get sick, or they could get more ill than otherwise.
Jason Caputo
Those are really clear examples of why the mask is really still important for us to keep wearing. A kind of logical question that comes next: So if I have to still wear the mask and life isn't getting back to normal, should I even bother getting the vaccine? What's the use of the vaccine? Can you speak to that?
Christina Lewis
Well, it could be the difference, getting the vaccine could be the difference between being mildly ill and being asymptomatic. Or it could be the difference between ending up in the ICU and having to lie down for a few days with a fever and body aches. So we talk a lot about this, you know, a lot of people really want to get back to normal really quickly, and part of the problem with contracting the virus and developing symptoms of the disease is that when we end up with these situations where we have the more serious conditions, it disrupts life. Right? So now we've got someone who's hospitalized. Now they can't work. Now their employer has to hire somebody else, retrain them to do something else. And so life is, you know, it's disrupted when we end up having to be hospitalized. Whereas if we, if we all try, those of us who can, right, take the vaccine, if we all try to take it, our symptoms will be more mild, and our lives will be less disruptive, meaning I can go get my eyebrows done, you know, so I'm looking forward to life. [laughter]
Heather Miley
We are all looking forward to real life becoming more normal.
Jason Caputo
Well, that's a great example of how actually getting the vaccine does help life get back more to normal, even though you may be wearing the mask, you basically are taking whatever, it's possible that you'd be taking whatever level of illness, if you do get sick, and you had the vaccine, you're getting a much milder case, which will disrupt your life much less and maybe even be the difference between life and death - getting vaccine. So that's pretty strong reasons why the vaccine, OK, no matter, I still got to wear the mask. But heck, those are great advantages right there. There's some there's some conflicting information it seems about the benefits of cloth masks. And could you talk a little bit about what are the benefits and other information about cloth masks?
Christina Lewis
So the masks are face coverings. As originally promoted to the general public, they're not promoted as personal protective equipment. They should be promoted as source control, and I think that some of the confusion in the media is that we hear people, and either politically or positions of power or just the general public, speaking of these face coverings as if they are personal protective equipment, and then, you know, subsequently saying, They don't protect you from the virus. Well, but they're not personal protective equipment. So the idea is source control. So if I'm wearing one of these face coverings that are promoted to the general public, I am protecting you from my droplets as I laugh and talk while we're walking around the facility or whatever. There has been some research done, and the CDC has determined that if you're wearing two of these face coverings, you can indeed have a good level of protection. But with that, at the same time, we do want to make sure we're breathing. You don't want to choose to pass out while you're grocery shopping versus just wearing a face covering for source control. So you can do whatever's best for you. You can Wear one mask for source control and control 90% of the droplets that are coming out of your mouth as you speak. Or you can double up and actually get some level of protection as well. And then it, I guess you can say, it becomes personal protective equipment, in theory.
Heather Miley
Also, it's really important, as Christina mentioned, this is source control, it's meant to stop the droplets coming out. Well, they're going to come out of your mouth, but it's going to get trapped on the cloth instead of going wild wherever it wants to in the air. So it's really important that when you wear the source control, these masks, that the material is nonporous. You don't want it to be like some mesh, where they're going to go escape anyways. And you also want to make sure that its covering the entirety of your nose and your mouth. That way it's capturing all those droplets that you're spewing out all the time.
Jason Caputo
That's great I haven't heard that distinction before, but that made it really really clear. People are getting confused because they're thinking masks, are masks, are masks. Jumping over to another area safety the vaccine. Some people are not quite sure about the effectiveness or safety of the vaccine, and they want to postpone getting their own so that they can better understand the side effects. Do you have any recommendations for those people in the meantime, to help protect themselves? Because if they don't have the vaccine, they're at a lower level of protection than folks that do.
Christina Lewis
So in that situation, we would default to what we have learned and what we have been taught since the beginning of the pandemic, we would keep our social circles within our homes, do a lot of hand washing, of course, make sure we're social distancing. Lets, you know that, that someone who would choose to do that, you'll want to make sure you're always like a snowplow apart from another person, make sure you're always the distance of a bear apart from another person. Definitely wearing your face covering and really, depending on the environment that youre in, if you're in an area that does have a lot of high traffic of other human beings, you'll want to disinfect or sanitize those hand-contact surfaces more frequently. So we're going back to hand washing, social distancing, disinfection and, of course, wearing face protection.
Heather Miley
And this guidance will change based off of where we are in the pandemic. So as we live through this pandemic, I mean, unless you've been under a rock, which by the way, kudos to you because that's a very effective pandemic strategy. [laughter] It's like we've all experienced this pandemic, we've all experienced the ebbs and flows and the waves and the periods where things seem to be getting better. And then it turns and things aren't getting so better. So you have to constantly be in check, to make sure where the state of community spread is and follow those local guidances that Christina was mentioning.
Jason Caputo
Now, another element of this, of the pandemic, of the virus that we've heard about it jumping the species barrier from bats to humans. And of course, as pet lovers, especially in Alaska, what about the pets in our households? Are they at risk of contracting the virus? And is there anything people can do to ensure their pets stay safe?
Heather Miley
That's a question that's near and dear to my heart because I have two dogs that I specially love, and as you mentioned, great outdoors, what better place than to share it with your best furry friends. There has been some evidence that it has transmitted from humans to pet animals like cats and dogs. They're very rare. You would essentially treat your pets the same as you would small children. So right now, when it comes to masks, most places in business do not require masks for people under the age of two. Because just try to keep a mask on an infant like that would be impossible. Same with trying to keep a mask on dog. So don't worry about masking them, but keep them in the same social bubble as yourself and make sure that you're avoiding letting them run freely. So there's already a lot of leash laws here in Anchorage. So as long as you're keeping your dog on a leash, you have that peace of mind, too, that most leashes are six feet long anyways. So that's a good indicator that you're keeping your social distance from others.
Christina Lewis
Sometimes we hear about, oh, if we wipe things down with this, or if we, you know, wash things down with that, you want to make sure you're not using anything, you know, toxic on your little loved one. If it's not something that's made for a pet, you definitely want to avoid it. So we're not going to put hand sanitizer on our dogs, you know, we're not going to wipe them down with any type of sanitizing wipes or anything like that. So if you want to, you know, take care for your babies, or take care of your fur babies, I should say, take care of them with your already pet-approved products.
Jason Caputo
Great, thank you. I'm sure a lot of people value that information. We haven't heard a lot about keeping our pets safe. And of course, for many, they are important parts of our families. So I want to end up with two more general questions. Many employees and people in the general public are concerned about their personal safety. Is there any general advice you can give to folks concerned about their own personal safety?
Heather Miley
Well, when it comes to the general public, the State of Alaska strongly encourages the wearing of masks while outside of the home, so that could be in recreational areas like parks or trails, private businesses or indoor public spaces, such as courthouses or airplanes.
Christina Lewis
Yeah, and, and then, outdoors, it's a little bit different, you know, a lot of us come to Alaska, those of us who are not native here, we come up here to be able to play outside all the time. And social distancing is pretty much built into hiking and other outdoor activities. Yay! The importance there, of course, is if you are out with friends or people in your social bubble, that you stay close to your social bubble. And it is recommended that if you are working hard, you're breathing hard, that you stay more than six feet away from people who are not in your social bubble, more like 10 feet. So if we're not, if we're, you know, out there on a mountain, and we're 50 feet from another person, it's scientifically okay for someone to not be wearing a mask in that scenario.
Jason Caputo
And what, wanted to just finish up with, if you could talk about, if people are interested in getting more information after they listen to this, obviously, they can contact you. What are some other types of resources available with Consultation and Training?
Heather Miley
So just to reiterate, so Consultation and Training offers Occupational Health and Safety consultations that are both free and confidential. So these consultations could be training sessions for you and your colleagues or your staff. They could be onsite visits, where we walk through your workplace and find hazards that are specific to your place of business. Or you could be sending us questions and we could do some of the legwork on researching an answer that's appropriate to your specific concerns. We understand that trying to keep up with these constantly changing COVID guidance and advice is like trying to hit a moving target. Its really difficult, but we want to empower you with the tools and resources to create a healthy work environment for your employees and answer any questions that you may have by email or phone. This is a voluntary program that requires your initiation, so we're not going to force this on anybody. Our phone number for Consultation and Training is 1-800-656-4972. Again, that's 1-800-656-4972. You can also search our website. It would be AKOSH Consultation and Training, if you just do a Google search for that, it'll bring you to our website.
Christina Lewis
Excellent. But I do want to mention that there is an accountability measure built into the relationship that you choose to build with AKOSH Consultation and Training. So this is voluntary, you know, initiated by the employer, but you are obligating yourself to make any changes to anything serious may come up.
Jason Caputo
Right, thank you for making that clear. So they can call. If they have some questions, they're not sure whether they want to take that level of commitment, can they, they can call kind of anonymously the number and just get some general information without initiating that relationship?
Christina Lewis
Absolutely. They can call us or email us with any questions. We do compliance assistance as well. And we'll do the best we can to research any topic that you forward to us with the information that we have. Sometimes we get questions about reviewing written programs. So if there's something that's already written, our scope on evaluating a written plan, when we haven't seen a facility, it is limited, but we can do the best we can to help you determine whether or not at least the content and the intent is there.
Heather Miley
And above all, we want to build a partnership with the businesses here in Alaska, to make sure that workplaces for Alaskans are safe and healthy.
Jason Caputo
So thats wonderful. Thank you so much for providing that information. All the telephone numbers, the website address, we'll have that in the podcast description. So if you want to follow up to get more information you can do that. This has been the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast. Thank you, Christina and Heather, for joining me today and talking about the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Consultation and Training section. And thank you, listeners, for joining us. We hope you found the show informative and that you'll join us for our next podcast.
April 2, 2021
Podcast #6 Demetria Veasy Employment Services Manager - discusses Job Center Services. Links mentioned in the podcast:
Find an Alaska Job Center near you
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Jason Caputo 0:01
Hello, and welcome. You're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and workforce development podcast series, where you'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. I'm Jason Caputo, and my guest is Demetria Veasy, Employment Services Manager three. And we're going to be talking today about job center services. Demetria thank you so much for joining me today.
Demetria Veasy 0:27
Thank you for having me.
Jason Caputo 0:29
So we'll start with the most basic of questions that people will want to know what services do you provide a job centers to the public?
Demetria Veasy 0:40
Well, probably one of the main services that we provide are to job seekers and employers. Every Job Center in the state has a resource room. And that's where job seekers can go to do their job search activities. There's computers, there are printers, there are fax machines, they're courtesy phones, for them to call employers, there's a line specifically to allow individuals to apply for unemployment insurance. When they go and pick up that phone, it takes them directly to the front of the queue, for them to talk to a an, excuse me, an employment services technician with UI to take their claim and answer any questions that they may have about unemployment, and to even open a claim anything that they need for their job search paper for printers, and then their staff on site that will help with their job search as well help them navigate different employment sites, help them with their resume, cover letter, you name it. And then we've got a business connection unit that provides direct services to employers. And they help employers with all of their recruiting efforts. Staff in our Business Services Unit also, they facilitate all of our job fairs, and all of our recruiting efforts when we're open to the public, which we are not right now. But when we're open to the public, we also have as many on site recruitments as we possibly can, where we have employers come directly to the Job Center to recruit people for their openings. And we encourage as many people that are using our services to go and talk to those employers. There are some job centers that have interviewing rooms where employers can interview people on site as well. And then our Business Services Unit, you know, also helps employers just, you know, use other methods for finding the workers that they need, and introduce them to other programs that will benefit them as an employer. And then we've got a career support and training services unit. That unit provides or administer state and federal funding to help individuals that need degrees, certifications or licensing in order to obtain and maintain employment. Specifically here in our Midtown Job Center, we have a seafood office. And I say that because we're the only job center that has a seafood office. And in our seafood office here, though, that staff provide services to employers and job seekers specifically for the seafood industry. And then there's the mature Alaskan seeking skills training program. That's a program that provides job training for older workers, ages 55 and above. And then we've got the jobs for veteran state grant where we provide services to veterans that have significant barriers to employment. So anything that has to do with finding a job, we have a program that will help an individual.
Jason Caputo 3:53
That's amazing. That's amazing. So to two really distinct groups there that I heard you've got job seekers and a whole bunch of stuff for job seekers, but also a bunch of services for businesses as well as job seekers. Are you recovering people who maybe are really need some introductory help, or some real basic help of computers and just basic things to kind of interviewing help, but then also people who need some specialized help, like use talked about certain certification and licensing, and then older workers and veterans as well, which is fantastic. And I know that, as you said, You're closed. The job centers are closed to the public completely.
Demetria Veasy 4:38
Yes closed at this point. Completely close to the public. However, we are still helping people to do is call call your local Job Center. And there's somebody available as we've got people answering the phone Monday through Friday, eight to five. If you need help with your resume, we've got staff that will help you with your resume. We totally understand that with hours, Jobs centers being closed. There are limited services for individuals that don't have a computer at home. So our staff are helping people apply for jobs online, if necessary. So if there's a if there's a job seeker that does not have the technology at home, they don't have internet or they don't have a computer, if they call their local Job Center, there's an employment services technician, that will help them with any of their job search needs. They'll look for jobs that might best fit them, they will talk about who is currently hiring for those jobs. Recommend, you know, if they're looking for a retail job, and they want to apply for what Walmart, they'll pull up that Walmart's application and they'll fill that out for them online for them.
Jason Caputo 5:47
Wow, that's amazing. I was just going to assume that those computer type services couldn't be provided. But you actually as long as the person has a phone or can use a phone to call, you can actually do the computering for them. Yes, that's fantastic. And employers obviously can call and get access to services that you talked about as well,
Demetria Veasy 6:07
Absolutely. If we have an employer that needs to, you know, fill a position and they need help posting that position in Alaska jobs, then anyone in our Business Services Unit can help them with that.
Jason Caputo 6:21
That's fantastic. That's really great. Um, I know that the job centers, do a lot of workshops, usually when they're open. And I'm assuming you guys have virtual workshops.
Demetria Veasy 6:35
Yes, Yes, we do. Yes, we do. We've got, um, we have a resume writing workshop. So we're using zoom as our platform for those. And so right now, if, if so, let me just tell you first the workshops that we have available. So we've got the resume writing workshop, we've got interviewing skills workshop, we have a workshop that introduces job seekers to our new labor exchange system, AlaskaJobs. I'm pretty sure most people are very familiar with Alexis, Alexis was around for about a decade. But starting in the beginning of July, we switched over to a labor a new labor exchange system. Not everybody is familiar with that system yet. So we have a workshop, that gives a really good introduction on how to register in the workshop, how to look for jobs, how to use the virtual recruiter that and just, you know, to familiarize our job seekers, in those in the community, even those that we partner with in the community, just how to use that site to great workshop. We also have a workshop for workplace Alaska, the state of Alaska job bank. And then we also have a workshop for employment after incarceration, because, you know, one of another one of our target, populations are re-entrance. And it is our goal to help as many re-entrants that are coming out of the justice system to get back into the community and find a good job. And because we know that that helps to reduce recidivism. And so to access those workshops, all you have to do is call your local Job Center. And let them know which workshop you would like to attend. And they will sign you up for him. And just either the morning of, or the day before the workshop, the job seeker will receive an email with the zoom link. And so it's pretty easy, pretty easy to participate.
Jason Caputo 8:37
Awesome. That's great. Is there a place online for people to go to see a list of the workshops that are available?
Demetria Veasy 8:44
There is a flyer online, in our directly on our site? If you go to there is a flyer online.
Jason Caputo 8:59
And we can what we'll do is I'll get that link from you. And we'll put that link to that right in the description of this podcast.
Demetria Veasy 9:05
Perfect. Perfect. Yes. So there's that there's a flyer in our job fair and recruitment site. And that flier gives the list of all of those workshops and it gives a description of each workshop as well. And then gives you a number that you can call to register.
Jason Caputo 9:21
Oh, fantastic. Okay, great. We will make sure so if you're interested in the workshop, so you can't remember some of them, there are so many but they really covering all the bases there will have a link to that list in the description. So here, here's something I know a lot of people are also interested in if someone needs, say funding to get training they need they need help paying for this training. How do you approach that? How would they apply for funding or what are their sources for that kind of thing?
Demetria Veasy 9:52
Yes, yes, there are. I mean, the best thing to do is just to call your local Job Center and just do this describe to whoever answers the phone, that you're looking for funding for training. For example, if you want to get your CDL, just call your local Job Center and say, Hey, I'm interested in getting a CDL. But I need help funding it, they'll know exactly how to direct you from there. So they'll talk to you about the intake process, the next step will be for you to work with someone in the career support and training services unit, they'll talk to you, they'll do an assessment, they will, you know, walk you through what is required in order for them to be able to make an eligibility determination to see if you are indeed eligible for one of those grant funded programs. And then from there, they will if you're deemed eligible, then they'll start that with that eligibility process, enrolling you in the program writing an employment plan. They're letting you know how much funding you're going to receive, if there are other support services that you may be eligible for. So that program, you know, not only do Can we help pay for training, but we can help with other support type services, for example, you know, if someone needs tools for work, we might be able to assist with that. If someone needs clothes for work, we may be able to assist with that. There's other type of support services, housing, transportation, you know, all needs based however, there are, there are multiple different ways that we can support someone in their training and employment endeavors. It's all individually lies based on need. That case manager takes a holistic approach to helping each individual and making sure that we're helping them you know, overcome any barriers, that's going to keep them from being able to start a training program, successfully completed and successfully get to work.
Jason Caputo 11:55
So it's totally comprehensive there. It's not just the starting it, but it's getting through it successfully, absolutely getting that job. And so, basically, to summarize, for those of you out there, if you're if you are looking for work, and you're having trouble paying for some of the things, affording some of the things that you need for work or even related things like well, you need stable housing in order to show up at a job stably. It's worth it to give that Job entre a call. And they'll ask you the questions and walk you through what might be available to help you in all those ways. That's really a broad range of services. That's absolutely impressive.
Demetria Veasy 12:37
Yeah, absolutely. And if there's if there's something that we cannot assist with, then we're going to help refer them to the resources available in the community that may be able to assist them. If we cannot provide all of the funding, we're going to see if there's other resources in the community if there are other agencies in the community that we can partner with, to help leverage as much funding for that participant as we possibly can. We partner with Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, we, we partner with Ninestar, we partner with AVTEC. I mean, we partner with many other agencies throughout the community. And together, we do the best that we can to help that individual not have to take out loans not have to come out of pocket. Sometimes it's necessary, but if we can prevent it, that is always the end goal.
Jason Caputo 13:27
That's fantastic. So really, and I've heard this I've heard Job Centers kind of talked about is almost like the heart of the system of helping people it's kind of a central place where you can you have a bunch of stuff you can do directly, that you talked about some services, but also your staff knows about all these other resources as well. And not to say that there may or may not be funding out there for a given person, but it's there, there really is, it would be crazy not to give a call and find out if people are eligible for this because and they only have to call one place, which is the Job Center, which is fantastic.
Demetria Veasy 14:05
Yes, sir.
Jason Caputo 14:06
And speaking of that, we will put a link to the contact information for the job centers, the different job centers in the description as well. (https://jobs.alaska.gov/offices/) So yeah, so many services or job seekers, but I know you also serve employers really well to talk about some of the other benefits for employers, why would they What do they get when they work with the Job Center.
Demetria Veasy 14:31
So you know, there's some tax credits for a job for employers. You know, if they call and work with our business services team, our business services team is going to introduce them to some of those tax credits. For example, there's the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Anytime an employer hires someone that is low income and may be receiving food stamps or any other type of public assistance type program, there may be a tax credit available to them, if they hire someone with a criminal background, there may be a tax credit available to them, if they hire a veteran, there are tax credits available to them. And our Business Services Unit educates employers on what those tax credits are, and how they can apply for those tax credits. We also have a fidelity bonding program. And our Business Services Unit will educate employers on that program, if they hire someone that is high risk, we help them to get bonded, which is not very difficult. I think we start out at $5,000 bonds, and it can go up from there if necessary. And you know, more than anything, we just we have, you know, a system that has 1000s and 1000s of job seekers in our database, we can do candidate searches, if an employer has a position that they've been having a hard time filling, if they're working really closely with our Business Services Unit, we can help with candidate searches. And also work with our career support and training services unit, if they've got I mean, they've got a their case managers. And so if there's, they might have someone that they're working with that getting the type of certifications and license or training that employ your needs. And if we're working together internally, which we do all the time, and then we can do some job matching. So there are, you know, multiple things that our Business Services Unit can offer to an employer, if the best of all, is all those services are free. And so, you know, we all love, love to access resources that are free.
Jason Caputo 16:50
Well, especially when you're talking about I mean, here's, you know, with the tax credits, just starting with that, that's free money that all employer has to do, or business owners to kind of call up and find out, hey, what might I be eligible for? And then, of course, I think that is also several standout services. But that idea that job centers are already working with people who are going there to get licenses and to get training and to get, you know, those that type of rare training that's hard to recruit for but employers calling a Job Center, they get direct access to those people who are on the path. So you kind of kind of like early access to these people who are maybe they don't have the license yet, but they're on the path to get it. Oh, that's fantastic. So kind of on that theme of helping employers find fill those jobs that they really need. Do you have an idea? Can you give us some tips or some hints on what are the hot jobs right now.
Demetria Veasy 17:53
Healthcare,
Jason Caputo 17:55
here's the inside scoop. Of course,
Demetria Veasy 17:57
Healthcare, anything in the medical industry is still growing strong. There's still a lot of opportunities for nurses for nurse aides, medical assistants, personal care attendants. We've got several employers that are hiring personal care attendants or caregivers right now. There's still a lot of administrative jobs. The university has some high hiring needs right now. We just did a pretty large recruitment for them virtual recruitment for them for their multiple vacancies and that's that was for UAA, UAF and University of Alaska, South East. There's a lot of social service jobs out there. I was just looking earlier, and there were a lot of jobs for behavioral health aides. So anyone that's looking to get into the mental health side of the medical field, there are several behavioral health aide positions available. And of course, retail is always high, especially this time of year. We're entering into our seasonal Alaska, the very seasonal state, we're entering into our seasonal season. So there's going to be an increase in retail jobs for the summer. We are also we've got some massive recruitments going on right now in our seafood industry. We've got several seafood employers that have high hiring needs for seafood processors. And then of course, this is the time of year where there's a lot of landscaping. So we have several employers that are looking for landscapers in some of those labor type jobs and for landscaping.
Jason Caputo 19:40
Thats a very wide variety. I wasn't expecting such a wide variety of careers. That's that surprised me. I knew health care. I know that's always a big one. Everywhere, not only in Alaska, but boy, there's a whole bunch. So I know that that you really describe the services so well to both businesses and to jobs. seekers. So I know people are going to want to connect, when they hear this, how many job centers are there state wide? And how are people the best way for people to connect with those Job Centers,
Demetria Veasy 20:13
There are 14 jobs center statewide. So that's too many to name. However, there's another link that we can add, that will take people directly to our site and list out all of those job centers. And the contact information for all of those job centers will be there as well.
Jason Caputo 20:35
Perfect, perfect. Well, is there is there anything else that you wanted to add? We've covered so much, but was there any, any other things that we missed that you'd like to talk about?
Demetria Veasy 20:45
No, I would just like to say that if you need help, if you've been, if you're feeling yourself frustrated, looking for a job, please don't feel like you have to do it alone. There are resources available to you. They're free. And we hire people that love people. And so just don't hesitate to call, please just call your local Job Center and allow our employment service technicians that are well trained in how to help you navigate to this very difficult market right now. And but it is our goal to help everybody that comes to us be successful in their job search endeavors. So please just give us a call.
Jason Caputo 21:33
Yeah, thank you for saying that. I mean, that that may be the most valuable service of all at this during this time is so stressful for people. And sometimes you feel like you're just on your own out there, you know, trying to make things work and trying to face your challenges. But it's good to know that the job centers are there. They serve everybody, everybody. And, and so you can just have someone there to help you if you give them a call. And again, we're going to have that information in the on how to contact those job centers in the description. So this has been the Alaska Department of Labor and workforce development podcast. Thank you, Demetria for talking with us today about the job center services for job seekers and businesses. And thank you, listeners for joining us. We hope you found the show informative, and that you'll join us for our next podcast. Thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
March 19, 2021 - Work Matters
Podcast #5 - Division of Vocational Rehabilitation director Duane Mayes explains how over 24 representatives from across state government have come together with Alaskans with disabilities and Alaskan businesses to improve employment outcomes for Alaskans with disabilities. The partnership is called the Alaska Work Matters Taskforce.
If you are an Alaskan with a disability and want to work, contact the Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to find out how they can help you get and keep a good job: https://labor.alaska.gov/dvr/
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Jason Caputo:
Hello and welcome; you're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast series, where you hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses, and communities.
Jason Caputo:
I'm Jason Caputo and my guest today is the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation director Duane Mayes, and today we're going to be talking about the Work Matters task force. Duane, thank you so much for joining us today.
Duane Mayes:
Yes thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Jason Caputo:
Now, we just heard from you a little while ago. We said we were going to have you come back on and talk about our services for businesses, which we still intend to do, but something happened in the meantime that's really exciting and very important, so we need to get you right back in here, and that is that the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development got together and created this Work Matters task force. I was hoping you could just give us a brief overview of what is this task force.
Duane Mayes:
So there are twenty four members to the task force and then of course supporting cast, so I actually chair the task force and I'm the director for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. So I was asked by our Commissioner, Dr. Tamika Ledbetter, as well as Adam Crum who's the commissioner for the Department of Health and Social Services, so I'd share that, and so we have -- when I was looking at the number of people that called in, it was about thirty eight people, so we were very happy, but twenty four official members of the task force. And it includes, you know, members and directors from the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Social Services specifically the Division of Juvenile Justice, and then there's the Division of Behavioral Health, Senior and Disabilities Services. We have the Department of Education; there is representation from them. The Department of Transportation, the Department of Administration. In terms of personnel: five Alaskans with disabilities, three employers that are part of that task force, and then a variety of beneficiary boards, the state independent living council, the governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education, the Alaska Mental Health Board, the Alaska board on drug abuse and then the governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education. I'm pretty excited as the chair to that task force, but we just had our first meeting on March sixteenth and we're going to have three more over the next twelve months, so, excited about the task force and we're addressing competitive and integrated employment of Alaskans with disabilities. That's what it's about: what can we do to really enhance that?
Jason Caputo:
Well that is a huge group of people and I could see why you've been picked for a number of reasons, but one of the most basic is that I know you have experience working at the Department of Health and Social Services at a very high level and then you're also working at the Department of Labor a high level so you probably know a lot of these people already and were working with them but how do you -- is it a challenge to bring all these different facets together to work on one problem? How was that first meeting?
Duane Mayes:
Actually I was very happy, I mean I when I looked up on the screen -- we did this virtually, obviously, because we're addressing and dealing with the pandemic; many of us are teleworking -- but looking up on the screen, we have a lot of people: directors, deputy commissioners, directors of the boards. And we had a well-engaged audience of members. The five Alaskans with disabilities were very engaged, the three employers showed up and stayed for three hours and were very engaged, so I walked away from that knowing, okay, we got our A-game going. I think we now are going to be able to truly address all programs, all policies that have to do with the employment of Alaskans with disabilities.
Jason Caputo:
That's fantastic. Yeah, business owners do not have time to just waste. Time is money and so if they were there for three hours and felt it was valuable, that's an amazing sign. So you say it's about addressing that integrated competitive employment. For those listeners who may not be familiar with those terms, can you talk about what integrated and competitive means?
Duane Mayes:
Sure, so Alaskans with disabilities working side by side with those Alaskans without disabilities in Alaska businesses, in state government, federal government here in Alaska, in positions that actually pay minimum wage or more, and so we're working side by side with those that are not disabled, that's really who we are as a state: competitive integrated employment.
Jason Caputo:
Real jobs.
Duane Mayes:
Real jobs. Real jobs paying good money.
Jason Caputo:
Right, and a good value to the employers who are hiring them. So what led to the creation of this task force? Why is the state doing this?
Duane Mayes:
Well there's a little bit of history. So let me go back to the year 2014, and this I believe was the Parnell administration and at that time I was the director for, within the Department of Health and Social Services' Division of Senior and Disability Services. So at that time there was a bill brought forward to the Alaska legislature by the governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education and it was a bipartisan bill.
Duane Mayes:
On both sides, both Republican and Democrat got behind it and it passed and it was called the -- Alaska becomes the first Employment First state, so employment first for Alaskans with disabilities in this state, the provision of publicly funded services in Alaska to people with disabilities, the first number for an outcome is competitive and integrated employment. And the other piece to that bill is that we would actually track our performance from year to year with those relevant divisions and departments: Department of Education, Department of Health and Social Services, and the Department of Labor, and so there are divisions that either directly or indirectly address the employment of Alaskans with disabilities, so they would report, at the end of the calendar year, the outcomes, the numbers of Alaskans with disabilities that went to work as well as any policy changes for the better. And all this would be packaged into a report and it goes to the Alaska Mental Health Trust and goes to the commissioners for the departments of Labor and Health and Social Services so they're able to see, what does that look like as we evolve as an employment first state? So that was in 2014. So fast-forward to 2018.
Duane Mayes:
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development took the lead and it was the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to repeal Alaska's sub minimum wage regulation. At that time we were only the third state in the country to do that, so we should be very proud of that.
Duane Mayes:
And then the other piece of that is, you know, I should state is that the Division of Voc Rehab led that effort so now competitive integrated employment is front and center. We're not in certain situations on a contractual basis paying Alaskans with disabilities sub or below minimum wage, so that's pretty exciting. And then in that same year we sent a team from Alaska to the National Governors' Association employment learning lab, so the U.S. Department of Labor at the federal level created this lab to the National Governor's Association and we sent a team there to identify specifically what are the recommendations that can help Alaska to further enhance their employment programs for Alaskans with disabilities. So the team went to that, came back, and one of their recommendations was to create this task force -- the Work Matters task force. So in 2019 the federal government created a national contractor referred to as the State Exchange of Employment of Disabilities -- SEED is the acronym -- and so they came to Alaska to further discuss the formation of that task force. So as a result of that history, we then approached this administration, this governor, to seek his support as well as support of the most relevant departments in government -- Health and Social Services and Labor -- so that happened. And so all that led to this task force. Well, just little bit of history as to how it actually came to be.
Jason Caputo:
Right, I think that's very important to know, because when you have all those high level people spending time doing something, you don't just do that on a whim, but you kind of just explained how this is built on a long history of moving in this direction successfully and getting the information to find out how can we make this happen, how can we get more Alaskans with disabilities working in in real jobs and valuable jobs? So I think that's that's really helpful to know. So you approached this governor, Governor Dunleavy, with that. What was the response? Does the governor support it?
Duane Mayes:
Absolutely. Actually, it is a privilege and honor to be a part of this administration so it was not a heavy lift. He absolutely gets it and he put together a letter dated February eleventh of this year. And, you know, I'm not going to read you the letter, but there's a section I think is very relevant to this podcast interview, and that's that he says in his letter, 'Employment is the most direct and cost effective means to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve independence and economic self sufficiency. My administration seeks to improve and enhance the recruitment, hiring, advancement, and retention of individuals with disabilities through the state as a model employer.' So that's the other piece, you know. There was legislation a long time ago whereby it passed that the state will become a model employer in hiring Alaskans with disabilities. So his letter of support really helped me to gain the membership of the task force. When they saw that the governor's behind it, and they saw that the two commissioners were behind it, they were ready to step up and be a part of the solution.
Jason Caputo:
That's fantastic. So just to sum up a lot information there, you got this group of widespread throughout state government, leaders in state government, businesses, people with disabilities coming together on this task force and working to figure out how can they make it so that more Alaskans with disabilities get into the work force, make a good wage. Businesses have valuable employees, we've got less people who need benefits, so people are contributing to the economy by working. And the governor supports it.
Jason Caputo:
Now let's get down to brass tacks of what specifically is this task force going to try to do -- what are the outcomes going to be from this work?
Duane Mayes:
Excellent question, and I know many people are wanting to ask that question. They hear that we have this task force, so, what are you gonna do?
Duane Mayes:
And so, the state is a model employer of individuals with disabilities, so think about that.
Duane Mayes:
Provisional hire is a component within the state system whereby hiring managers can hire people with disabilities working through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to create that product, to put into place that process to make that happen. So provisional hire within the state system, building the capacity of the private sector to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities is a second task that we are going to address, priority that we're going to address. Designing transition programs, providing career development, work-based learning experiences, and parental involvement. So what are we doing to really prepare youth with disabilities coming out of the educational system and having some kind of awareness of what work looks like, the value of work, work matters.
Duane Mayes:
Establishing the employment first initiatives, recognizing that work in the general workforce, as a competitive integrated employment is the first and preferred outcome in the provision of publicly funded services and supports of all working age individuals with disabilities, including individuals with the most significant of disabilities. Everyone can work.
Duane Mayes:
And you may have somebody with multiple disabilities, but the belief is that they have value. Work matters, and you can work.
Duane Mayes:
Implementing a state at-work and return to work policy program for individuals who become ill or injured on or off the job '-- so with the pandemic, telework now being such a significant aspect of our world, what can that do for people with disabilities that may struggle to get from point A to point B? You know, the value of telework, work matters. Enhancing rural traditional skill development such as subsistence, self employment, etc. -- so what are we doing to really address the value of employment using some of those innovations that have occurred in the past specific to rural Alaska? Self-employment? What does that look like?
Duane Mayes:
And then of course, I would say that the national contractor SEEDS, they're gonna be part of this. They're doing this in other states. And I'm a fan of looking to what other states are doing, so, what models have you implemented that actually are working? So, save us time not having to reinvent the wheel. Bring some of those possible models to Alaska to really improve the value of a competitive and integrated plan. So I'm not gonna cover all of that but that'll give you a taste of what we're going to try to accomplish through the next twelve months in terms of deliverables, if you will.
Jason Caputo:
Right, there a lot a lot of really concrete ideas that are building, a lot of it building on what you have found to work in the past, both in this state and other states, so it's -- you've got these things that you want to make sure we're implementing correctly here, so it really does sound very grounded, which I would imagine is important when you have such a vast initiative, when you look at all those people involved, and I know that we've both been talking about what you're doing at this very high level that's going to trickle down throughout all these different agencies, and you've talked about the concepts, but I know that you also have come up through the disability system. I have worked directly with people with disabilities, and I was wondering if you might have a specific story that really brings home on a personal level what is this all about. Is there something you can share that shows a picture of the type of change that can happen when someone with a disability gets these services? When we get the services right, we can help someone with a disability?
Duane Mayes:
You bet.
Duane Mayes:
I'll share with you a story, my parents are both deaf, and I mentioned that in the last podcast interview with you. They both communicate through American Sign Language so they are in the, the term I often use is they are culturally deaf because they hang out with other deaf people because they want to be able to have ease of communication through American Sign Language. We grew up in a small little farm town in Wisconsin. Dairy land. They call it holy land ' it's a very specific area of the state where there's a lot of farming going on. And the town that I grew up in was referred to as New Holstein, Wisconsin. So there you go. Cow Town USA was the acronym that they often used.
Duane Mayes:
So there was a farmer and his wife who had a son that was born deaf, much younger than my dad. And my dad would often say, let's go see Art -- his name was Art -- so I hop in the car with my dad, we drive out there, and we would hang out with Art. So Art loved it; because he is fluent in ASL he was able to talk to my dad and talk with me and so I really enjoyed him. He was very engaging. He would always give me a hug and I just was so impressed with him. And he was a wrestler for the school for the deaf, from Wisconsin, so just to kind of give you an idea ' Well, I move on. You know, I go to college and I get my bachelor's and master's degrees in vocational rehabilitation. Along that journey I found out when I graduated from college and then went to Alaska that Art suddenly lost all of his eyesight. He was diagnosed with Usher's syndrome and so he dramatically loses eyesight. In my mind I'm thinking there's nothing that this guy's going to be able to do. He's deaf, he's blind, and I just I felt terrible about that, so I move on with my life and I'm in Alaska, and I fly to the east coast and I go to [inaudible] university. And it's a deaf college, where the majority of students on that campus are deaf, and they're attending a variety of whatever major they have. As I'm walking across campus, I look up and I see Art.
Duane Mayes:
So I walk over to him and I tap him on the shoulder and hes put his hand up about shoulder level. And so I started signing, and he's following my hands and signs to me: who are you? I said my name is Duane Mayes. He throws his arms around me and he picks me up off the ground and he just starts crying. And of course, I did the same thing because I hadn't seen him in a long, long time. And so I asked him, I said, Art, what are you doing?
Duane Mayes:
And he says I'm a professor.
Duane Mayes:
I went to college, I got my Ph.D.
Duane Mayes:
And I do national presentations throughout the country.
Duane Mayes:
And I was speechless, thinking ' here I thought he was probably just going to be sitting at home and his parents would have to provide twenty four-seven care for him.
Duane Mayes:
And he lost his eyesight and he just said, oh well, and he goes off to college. He adopts, he gets his PhD, and he's highly recognized now on a national level.
Duane Mayes:
That to me really defines the last Work Matters task force.
Duane Mayes:
Anybody, it doesn't matter what type of disability or if it's multiple disabilities -- you bring value. The value of work. And so he was very proud of his accomplishments. That really tells me a lot about what we're trying to accomplish here in Alaska. The power of work.
Jason Caputo:
Well that is very powerful. Thank you so much, Director Mayes, for joining us. I think that does bring it very clear, the vision that, what this task force is hoping to do for more and more Alaskans with disabilities.
Jason Caputo:
I probably should mention too that if you are listening to this podcast and you have a disability and you're saying, well, yeah, I want that kind of help, I need that kind of help, I've been trying to work and I can't work: The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation -- we're talking as a director right now, he is director of that agency. They can help Alaskans with disabilities in getting, keeping a good job. We'll put the information in the description of this podcast so you can get the telephone number, the website. I'll also give it you now, it's labor dot Alaska dot gov forward slash DVR. So if you're thinking about, hmm, is this for me? Give a call. They're waiting for your call, and they can talk you through how the program can help you.
Jason Caputo:
This has been the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast series. Thank you, Director Mayes, for talking with us about the Work Matters task force today. We look forward to hearing about the accomplishments of this task force in the future. And thank you listeners for joining us. We hope you found the show informative and that you'll join us again for our next podcast.
Duane Mayes:
Thank you, Jason.
March 10, 2021 - DVR Helps Jobseekers with Disabilities
Podcast #4 - Division of Vocational Rehabilitation director Duane MayesDirector Mayes explains how the DVR program helps Alaskans with disabilities get and keep good jobs. Hosted by Jason Caputo.
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Jason Caputo:
Hello and welcome you are listening to the Alaska department of labor and workforce development podcast series where you'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. Today we're talking about the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, an agency that helps Alaskans with disabilities get and keep good jobs. I'm Jason Caputo. My guest is Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Director Duane Mayes.
Jason Caputo:
Director Mayes, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.
Duane Mayes:
Yes, thank you very much.
Jason Caputo:
So I think with a name like Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, that's quite a mouthful. Can you just start out, what exactly is, and let's refer to it DVR, the initials of that. What exactly is DVR?
Duane Mayes:
You bet. So it's a public vocational rehabilitation program, and it exists here in Alaska, what's important to note, it really exists throughout the country. So every state has a public VR program, and we've been around since 1920. And so last year, in 2020, we celebrated 100 years, our anniversary. So there was a lot of emotion and getting the word out to the citizens of Alaska that we have been here for 100 years. And the same thing happened in the Lower 48 with all the other states to include our national trade association the council and state administrators for vocational rehabilitation. They did the same thing. So I've stated that every state has a vocation rehabilitation agency, and it's designed to help people with their individual disabilities meet their employment goals. That's what it's all about. Ultimately it's about competitive and integrated employment. To qualify for the program you're either out of work or you may be employed but you're struggling because something about your disability is really impacting your ability to sustain that work. So we are a public VR program.
Jason Caputo:
Great. Yes and so we are under, obviously, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development here in Alaska. It's obviously an incredibly important field to help people who are struggling with health and disability issues. What brought you into this field of helping people with disabilities?
Duane Mayes:
Well I would start by saying, let's keep it in the family. So before I get to the meat of that question, my older brother and my younger sister and I all went to the same college, got our bachelor's degree and master's degree in vocational rehabilitation. And I married an Italian who spent here in Alaska forever. She did 33 years with the Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, so she, too, is a vocational rehabilitation counselor, so I can kind of keep it in the family. One might ask the question, 'Well how did that happen? How did you, your brother and your sister?' I think it has to do with our upbringing. My parents are disabled. My mom and dad are deaf, and they have since passed on, but they communicated through American Sign Language. So my first language is really ASL, American Sign Language. My dad when he was 18 years old was stricken with polio, so as a result of that he had some significant disabilities. And so we as a group, as a family, we're always helping out. We are always extending to help my dad. My parents had tremendous work ethic. They worked very hard all their lives, but at times they needed a little bit of help. So I would step up and do that, my brother would step up and do that. And so it was ingrained into us to really be on a social services type of industry to help others in need. So I think that the one thing that stands out for me, and I'll share this with you, my mom and dad worked in the pots and pans factory, and they were terrified that they were going to maybe one day get the contact from HR that 'You have been terminated.' And so my mom would always go to work sick. You know she came down with a cold or she had the flu. Didn't matter, she would go to work. And so one day that that HR person from the factory called and said, 'Can you talk to your parents, because I've tried, and I'm not I'm not sure they really understand. Can you talk to your parents about the importance of staying home when they're sick?' And so my sister and I sat down with my parents to articulate that they both worked in the same factory. And they both just refused. They just said, 'We're not going to do that. You know, this is too important for us.' So when I think about the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, I think about how we are all about competitive and integrated employment for people with disabilities. It's what drives us. And so I share that story with you, because it's ingrained into me that we need to do what we can to help a lot of Alaskans who all want to be independent and work.
Jason Caputo:
That's like a perfect, you couldn't ask for a more perfect example of what DVR is all about. You know, you saw firsthand, you lived the experience of: Someone can be independent they can contribute to the economy, their community, but they may just need a little help. But that little bit of help, that little bit investment makes a huge difference between someone not being independent and someone being independent. So we're helping people with disabilities, and you touched on this a little bit, but let's make sure that people understand: Is anyone with a disability eligible or are there certain requirements?
Duane Mayes:
That's a good question not everybody with a disability can qualify for our program, can be determined eligible. So in order to be eligible for VR services, our federal regulations state that you must be an individual with a disability, whether it's physical or it's mental. And so when that individual comes into the office, they need to provide documentation that they have a disability. So that's front and center. And so the second part of that is if those disabilities result a barrier to employment. They've tried on their own to get a job, but they keep encountering, they're frustrated, and for whatever reason they are unable to find equitable employment. That also bodes well for determining eligibility within our division. And then the third is that it cannot benefit them. And so you may be a person with a significant, your disability is so substantial, that the benefits of us helping them may not materialize into competitive and integrated employment. So we have people that will walk through the door and apply for services that are on SSI, Social Security Income, and then SSDI, which is Social Security Disability Insurance. That's a long one. But neither SSI or SSDI. So we can assume that they are eligible because they met that through those components and so their disability is that significant. They're enthusiastic, 'We want to go to work,' and so we may be able to help them. But if they're so disabled, it may be that they're not going to benefit from our program and our services.
Jason Caputo:
Yeah, thank you for clarifying that. And I know that if someone's unsure, if you think you might qualify but you're unsure, you can contact us and DVR will help you determine whether you qualify, which is great. And to let you know, we are going to put a link to DVR services on how to apply in the description of this video, so if you feel that this is talking to you, click that link and DVR will help you figure out if you're eligible and what to do next.
So if someone comes in, they are eligible, they work with us and they get services what does a successful outcome look like? What has DVR done for people who've come in with disabilities and need that help?
Duane Mayes:
Well I think what I'm going to do is give you an example to make it really real so that hopefully it will resonate with the audience. So I've been with the within the state system for close to 32 years, but I've actually worked for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation around 20 years.,And the first half of that, the first 10 years, I was a rehabilitation counselor that served deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf blindly, deaf adults, because of my fluency in American Sign Language. I remembered individual, a female, a young deaf woman who came to Alaska, and she came into our division applying for services and expressed an interest in wanting to go to work. So you know that was front and center. 'I want to go to work.' So she provided the documentation of her disability, she was found eligible, and then we began the process of guidance counseling to determine what would be her interests. What are some of her existing skills that maybe she developed in the past, weather was through in high school or what have you done. So through that process we identified that she had a really strong interest and she had some skill in accounting. And she actually expressed that, and so this was way back when so you know some of this might be a little bit unclear for me. So what I did is I sent her to vocational program, and she was able to get a diploma. It was a one-year diploma in office technology. We set up all of the accommodations, her being deaf and communicating through American Sign Language. So she was able to get through that program. She graduated with flying colors, and as her counselor trying to provide her support to make sure that during rough times, you know, that we help we help her to kind of work through that. So she graduates with his diploma, and now she's ready, but she's really never worked before so we have to talk about what do you need to do in order to hold on to a job, job-keeping skills. We had many counseling sessions around that. And then we identified two employers, one in the state, one in the private sector. She applied for both, and in the private sector they offered her the job. So we set up a sign language interpreter, put her into that position. I was there from time to time, and we provided her support to make sure that she was successful. And so after a period of 60 days at that time we closed out her case because she didn't anymore support. She was in that position for 10 years. But the self-confidence, feeling like she was giving back, able to afford a vehicle, pay for her own rent, all those things that we do from day to day just to live independently, she could do that. And I still know her to this day. I still see her on the street. She's still working. You know, 30 years or 25 years later she's still here. So when I say vocational training I want to give a plug for AVTEC, the Alaska Vocational Technical Center down in Seward. This administration understands the power and the value of vocational training, and they have a program down there referred to as Business and Office Technology. If I had known that back then, if that program was existing back in the 80s I probably would have centered down there, because they are part of the Department of Labor. We want to support AVTEC, because AVTEC is going to help us in terms of recovering from the pandemic, the economy, the struggles that we're at right now. So just to give you an example of somebody that I worked with in the past.
Jason Caputo:
That's great. Yeah and that was someone who had a hearing impairment, and of course we've got our DVR has specialists who work with also the blind and counselors who have a lot of experience, I know, working with all kinds of disabilities right. So if someone comes in and they have a disability, is there a good chance that a counselor has already worked with someone who may have a similar disability?
Duane Mayes:
Yes, absolutely. And I'm glad you brought that up, Jason, because it's important to note that you know we serve all people with disabilities, but there are particular disabilities that require a certain set of skills. So working with the blind and visually impaired in terms of just the technology that goes into providing that support for that individual, being able to work on the job independently. So you have to have a counselor that really understands that very well. So we have those specialists. Well obviously, if you're going to be working with the deaf community, and they communicate through American Sign Language, you would want a counselor who is fluent in ASL. And so not only do we have a counselor that is fluent in ASL, she is actually deaf. So we walk our talk as a division.
Jason Caputo:
Excellent. So when people with disabilities are coming to the division they're working with people who are in that world, know that world, live that world. That is very important. And the success that you outlined, it's meeting with that person, helping to figure out a plan, get the supports to get that plan, and then get the job, keep the job. How does DVR specifically, if we can get into some of the details, how does DVR help make that happen? I understand it involves a special planning process.
Duane Mayes:
It does. So, you know, a person walks through the front door, applies for services, and we have an application process that we go through to really develop a profile of that individual, a lot of information about their past and so forth, so you have that. Provide medical records, document disability. Either they have that on them or we're going to have to have. We will either sign releases to get that information or we'll set up a medical appointment to determine if they have that disability, whatever they report. But we determine eligibility, now they are into the system. Within our division we have you know we have assessment processes and programs that exist through all of our different regions. So we can use that process to identify what their interests are. We can look at a previous skills and then address that. We can have just one-on-one interaction with them as to what they, you know, verbally desire, but we have a variety of tools that can help the counselor to kind of create that profile of that individual. So with that information they can sit down and they can start talking about that goal. What is the goal that would best fit you? We want to make sure that when we develop that plan it's just one plan, not 8 plans. You know, it's a plan that's going to work. And that requires a lot of upfront thorough guidance and counseling to identify whatever that goal might be for that individual. All that goes into a plan, called an Individualized Plan for Employment, and then the service coordination, all the services are in there so that AVTEC, that I was telling you about, or vocational training, that could be part of that. And so off they to go to school to get that training. So there's a lot of support that we provide to that individual so that they are successful in graduating from that program whatever that might be. So once they complete that training, then we assist them in finding a job. They find that job, and then we support them to make sure that they're successful with that job. So that's a real quick way of describing from application to eligibility, from the plan, to finding that job, they maintain that job for a period of 90 days, and then we close our case.
Jason Caputo:
And I want to highlight that it seems very important that it's a plan, it's one plan that's going to work, not 8 plans were 7 of them failed and the last one worked. So I guess that's one of the things that when someone is coming to us, you're saying they've already tried to work, they've already had some difficulties there, and so DVR is doing this planning to make sure that they don't have another failure or burnt bridge or whatever. So that seems like that's going to be a big change for a lot of people.
Duane Mayes:
We take our time. You know, some might be thinking OK well you're talked about taking your time, but take our time to make sure we get it right the first time. And so we take pride in letting the community know that we are planning agencies. So sometimes you may have somebody will come to us and say, 'Hey I have this individual that needs help, and you need to help them now.' And we understand that that sense of urgency, but we want to make sure we get it right. So we don't want to be rolling dice every other day.
Jason Caputo:
Yeah, you get it right. You help them now and it's a failure, that doesn't work because you didn't have some piece of information. That's really not helping anybody. You make sure that you have all the info so you have a good plan. So that makes perfect sense, of course. It's a planning process it's about the individual, their particular needs, their skills, their goals. And they work with this counselor to put together this plan and implement this plan. But now obviously we're living in this time of the pandemic. Is DVR even still able to provide services? And if so, what do things look like now? Are they different than they were pre-pandemic?
Duane Mayes:
You bet. That's a good question. So we've been living in this pandemic for what 12 months now, so here we are we're in close to mid-March, and I remember you know the virus came here to Alaska back in February of 2020. And so, as the state division we work together to move our staff, and it was probably, I think it was mid-March, moved our staff into their homes. We closed down all of our offices, so we're not physically in person seeing individual disabilities. And to this day we're still not doing that, so all of our offices have been closed from that perspective. However, we're still open for business virtually. So we created that platform. We use multiple platforms to work with our consumers. The counselor is at home for the most part, and they have a laptop, and they have a phone, and they're able to make connection with the client, the consumer, virtually through zoom or whatever other platform that might exist. We're pretty comfortable with that because even prior to the pandemic we have a statewide responsibility, and so we have rural factors that we have to attend to. And one of our requirements is to make sure that the counselor assigned to a certain rural area of the state needs to go into that community at least once or twice a year. But in between those appointments in person they're on the phone with them. So the basic, yes, we have this virtual world, but we can use the phone, too, to be able to communicate with our clients. It's not as effective as an in person or visually seeing one another. As you might imagine me, I grew up in a deaf household so I like to see the person in front of me. That's important. It's a cultural aspect of the deaf community. So we have all that. Now over time, anybody who's applying for services now during this pandemic can do so online. So we have, you go to our state website at the Alaska Division of Vocational Rehabilitation there is a link to start an application. So we have been promoting and encouraging and letting people know, 'Here's our new platform.' Now it hasn't been easy. I'll just be up front say that. You know, the pandemic has really had an impact on the number of people that we have served over the last 12 months, but that is starting to pick up. There's an uptick in the number of applications coming into the division, so that's a good sign. But it's an online application. It's right there. It hits you right in the face. You click on that and there's going to be a list of things that you have to follow. There's an orientation video that you watch so you better understand the program, and then there's an application that you can pull up, downloaded into your system, fill it out and then send it back to us. The other piece of that, we're a statewide program so someone fills out an application but they're located in a certain part of the state, which office will they be assigned to? Well there's a link that says, 'Find an office that serves your community.' If you just pull up that community, it'll tell you which office you need to get in touch with. So it's pretty good, but we continue to evolve, we continue to improve it, you know. Should never settle for what you have. You know, should be the best, so we live in a virtual world, and we're not seeing people in the office, but there will come a time where that will happen.
Jason Caputo:
Right, so you just listed a whole number of ways to communicate ' phone, video conference, email, texting, through our website. Yeah, so it sounds like any way that someone needs to contact us, we're probably on that platform, and we can make it happen. And again you'll have that link to those listening, you'll have a link to the website. And I've also heard that, if you have any trouble, if people listening have any trouble with any of those getting in contact with us which number to call, it should be clear on the website. If it's not you can just call any number you find for DVR, and they will get you to the right place. So don't worry about if it's a little confusing. Or email any email address. There's several on the website, and you'll get to the right place.
So clearly this is obviously a very valuable service for Alaskans with disabilities who need help getting or keeping a good job, but I understand DVR plays a broader role in Alaska's economic recovery, well economic success, but also the recovery from COVID as well. Is that right? Can you talk a little about that?
Duane Mayes:
Sure. Well it definitely is quite an honor to serve within this administration, because when I talk about the importance that the plan that has been, that's currently being worked on, the governor is taking the lead to make sure that that occurs so that we recover from this pandemic should include people with disabilities. So he clearly gets that, and I often will say when I'm doing presentations that whether it's at the national level, regional level, or even at the local level, that we cannot forget people with disabilities. We do not want them to be an afterthought, so we developed this robust plan of recovery, and we just happen to forget about people with disabilities. And so then we're scrambling. That's not going to happen. So the governor has surrounded himself with really good people, and we will be taking the lead role to work with other divisions in our community partners to make sure that that plan of recovery will factor in people with disabilities, Alaskans with disabilities.
Jason Caputo:
Excellent. Yes that's wonderful. So it's not going to be something we forget. After we develop the plan the governor is open to having that right in the roots of developing that plan for recovery. The people with disabilities will be well served. So that has covered a huge part of one part a DVR, and we know there's also a whole bunch of services that Alaskan businesses can take advantage of from DVR as well, from hiring to training, so we want to be sure to have you back, Director Mayes, on a future episode to talk about those. But thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about these services for people with disabilities. Is there anything else you want to add before we end this show?
Duane Mayes:
No. I just thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be able to communicate to whoever's listening to this podcast going forward. I can't tell you how important it is for me you know just personally growing up, as I shared with you. I feel like I'm here and I want to do what I can to make a difference, so thank you.
Jason Caputo:
Thank you. This is been the Alaska department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast. Thank you, Director Mayes, for talking about the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation with us today, and thank you listeners for joining us as well. We hope you found the show informative and that you'll join us for our next podcast.
Feb. 23, 2021 - AKOSH C&T
Podcast #3 - Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Consultation and Training (AKOSH C&T)
AKOSH Manager Elaine Banda discusses Consultation and Training services provided by the state for small businesses. Hosted by Jason Caputo.
For more information vist their webpage or call (Anchorage) (907) 269-4955 or (toll free) (800) 656-4972.
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Jason Caputo:
Hello and welcome you are listening to the Alaska department of labor and workforce development podcast series we'll hear all about how the department helps Alaskan workers, job seekers, businesses and communities. Today we're talking about how Alaskan employers can take advantage of the department's consultation and training program.
Jason Caputo:
I'm Jason Caputo and my guest is occupational health and safety manager Elaine Banda.
Elaine Banda:
Thank you thank you for having me.
Jason Caputo:
Yes, let's start just with the basics to get going. What is consultation and training?
Elaine Banda:
Consultation and training is a branch of the Alaska OSHA program. Most people are familiar with the OSHA program, but what some people don't know is that there is a state and a federal program. And we are the state program. Our main purpose is to provide safety assistance to employers, and help them recognize, evaluate, and prevent workplace hazards.
Jason Caputo:
Fantastic okay and is there any cost to this to businesses to get the service.
Elaine Banda:
Absolutely not our services are free and most importantly they are all confidential.
Jason Caputo:
I could see what that would be really important. We want people to feel comfortable reaching out to us for that kind of help, that's great and.
Jason Caputo:
Who is this available to? Can anyone request consultation services?
Elaine Banda:
Well. There is there are some limitations. I just want to cover the brief, the main, limitation.
Elaine Banda:
First of all we only provide services to small employers who have one or more employees, and our priority is limited, like I said, to small employers. Because typically if you look at our services, well the type of services we provide, in the private sector, it can be quite costly to an employer.
Elaine Banda:
But that's why we focus on small employers, because our services are free. And you say well what constitutes a small employer? Two hundred and fifty or fewer employees on worksite. If there is like a corporation no more than five hundred corporate wide and we also don't cover it if you are an entity and you fall under a different jurisdiction.
Elaine Banda:
Like I said earlier we have state OSHA and Federal OSHA. if you're on if you're in the military base.
Elaine Banda:
That's not going to be our jurisdiction.
Elaine Banda:
If you do your job site is on the water that's not going to be our jurisdiction.
Jason Caputo:
So.
Elaine Banda:
Those are some a brief description of the limitations of who we can provide our services.
Jason Caputo:
Gotcha, great, so prioritizing small employers and that it is with at least one or more employees, but a cap of two hundred and fifty employees on a worksite. And if they have a corporation, if their member of a corporate situation, it would be a total of five hundred or less corporate wide. Federal type sites, that might not be that wouldn't be us, and some other things. But basically if folks are unsure whether they qualify or not they should probably just contact you guys, and we'll provide that information in on the link to this podcast.
Elaine Banda:
Absolutely.
Jason Caputo:
Great okay great so I know that there's also this role that department labor plays in enforcement. Consultation and enforcement are two very different things. And so can you talk a little bit about the difference between those two.
Elaine Banda:
Yes, although we are under the same umbrella four our agency, we are two totally separate sections. A lot of times people they only when they hear OSHA they only think of enforcement, but they are on aware of the consultation and training services. So I'll briefly go over of three or four of the main differences between the two.
Elaine Banda:
First of all consultation is strictly voluntary on the employer's behalf. so we, are my consultants can not go into a workplace with out being invited by the employer.
Elaine Banda:
Once we are invited by the employer, the employer has total control, and they have the right to tell us which areas they want us to look at or which areas not to look at, and even they have the right to terminate the visit anytime.
Elaine Banda:
Whereas on enforcement it's not voluntary and you know they have sole priority. They can go wherever they want to go in enforcement and consultation we cannot.
Elaine Banda:
Another major difference is, consultation we don't issue citations or penalties ever. Whereas most people know enforcement does.
Elaine Banda:
What we issue it has recommendations to fix hazards, to fix the workplace hazards. Now here's the thing when an employer.
Elaine Banda:
When an employer requests our services the one caveat is that they agree to fix hazards in the workplace. So that's the only thing we would do. Consultation request of the employer, is to fix the hazard to keep the employees safe.
Elaine Banda:
Now if that employer refuses to fix the hazard and we will reach out to them multiple times.
Elaine Banda:
We may have to refer to enforcement. I've never had to do that, because most employers are very willing to do what it takes to correct the hazards.
Elaine Banda:
One of the other difference is at consultation we pride ourselves on building relationships with the community. Like I said our services are free if the employer wants us to come back every year we can do that. We can do follow up and we can do trading type visits to help that employer. To take the necessary steps to keep their employees safe. So those are some of the main differences between the two.
Jason Caputo:
That's good that were really you know, transparent and clear about that, because we do not want this to be a gotcha service. This should be a service where we're helping but, we have to be really clear, about there may be situations where you're going to. if the employer refuses you know, for whatever reason is not going to address that hazard issue that as you explain there could be some other actions that happened with that but. Let's really be clear on this because we want we want to give the businesses full understanding of what the story is about.
Jason Caputo:
Can you go a little bit more into the connection between consultation and enforcement, you touched on it but I think there's maybe a little more.
Elaine Banda:
Sure well our relationship is minimal, so like I said earlier we are under the same umbrella, but we are two totally separate sections so I am the chief of consultation and training, and the chief of enforcement is in a different section. so we do not have the same employee.
Elaine Banda:
Employers who request our services like I said.
Elaine Banda:
When we go out they signed an agreement to our services and to abate the hazard.
Elaine Banda:
I as the chief of consultation, I will do whatever it takes to work with that employer. Whereas in enforcement they don't have that privilege to work with the employer.
Elaine Banda:
So whatever that employer needs regarding safety I will do whatever it takes. But when that employer as I stated earlier.
Elaine Banda:
When they just cease communication and maybe give us the impression, that you know, they're not going to abate the hazard to keep employees safe. Only after several attempts, I mean I will do a letter, certified letter, we send voice mails, I'll send email, whatever it takes to keep that communication open with that employer. I will do it, and only after many many attempts if I do not hear back from that employer would I have to refer to enforcement that's new one instance. And I can say on my watch that has never happened.
Elaine Banda:
And then the other time, there's one other time, where we have our slight relationship with enforement.
Elaine Banda:
And let's say that employer has received, an inspection by an enforcement officer. So let's say they didn't know about our services and then enforcement just came to their site. Issues citations and penalties because they've identified hazards and then they go to informal settlement agreement that's with the chief of enforcement and that's even enforcement will say. Well you're a small business and I know you're trying hard so I'm gonna reduce your' and this is just an example.
Jason Caputo:
Sure.
Elaine Banda:
I'm going to reduce your penalty if you work with consultations right.
Elaine Banda:
So that chief of enforcement can referred that employer to my section but here's the caveat. That employer will have to reach out to me to say, Hey Elaine I was referred by the chief of enforcement. I will be very happy to say, come on over, fill out the form, let us work with you. So those are the only two times where consultation and enforcement have that intermingling of relationship. but almost part for the most part.
Elaine Banda:
Enforcement has no idea what we have going on over here, and we have no idea what they have going on there.
Jason Caputo:
Right.
Jason Caputo:
So businesses should contact you when they are they are ready to address any issues they want to keep their employees safe, they're committed to making those changes that need, and they want some free help and expertise on identifying what that is to make it easier. And something else I'm hearing, is it fair to say, it sounds like, you know on the one situation if they talk to consultation it is a very employer friendly, business friendly, relationship which you've described.
Jason Caputo:
And they have more control over the situation. If they don't do something about their safety issues and if enforcement. Finds out about it in the ways that they do, and it's reported in some way, then they have less options. They may get referred to you, especially if they're a small business for that extra care and help, but they may have less options so it's it's really in the business is best interest.
Elaine Banda:
To work with us. I just wanna make it clear that. We would never, we never send an employer to enforcement just blatantly. only after they've one requested our services, and two demonstrated that they are not going to fix any hazards, that would I keep that employees safe, only then we referred to enforcement. Enforcement they have their own way of doing things which I'm not privy to, but if they just happen to let's say we are working with an employer and enforcement just shows up.
Elaine Banda:
They'll leave. Enforcement will leave. I mean unless it's an imminent danger or something is very very serious, most times they'll leave. Oh, they're working with the consultation. they'll stop and other benefits mmhm.
########################################### minute 15:38 ###########################################
Jason Caputo:
So that's really clear, businesses who are ready to get that free help, and ready to take action on the recommendations. It's just out clearly a great service. Let's talk about what is that service that they're getting a little bit more. What specifically can consultation due for an employer.
Elaine Banda:
Well that's a good question, will we can do a lot. So what happens is our consultants when they go into the workplace, they do a full, or limited, walk through and they identify hazards.
Elaine Banda:
That's followed up with a written report. We take pictures, we tell the employer what the hazard, is where it's located. We even cite the OSHA regulation that says this is a hazard. And then we make recommendations on what that employer can do to correct the hazard. We can also help employers create their safety and health plans. I know in this era of COVID, we have a COVID template employers can use, if they if they're trying to implement that type of plan. We also have industrial hygienists.
Elaine Banda:
And what they can do, is free on site monitoring of noise, vapors and fumes so we have all the equipment and our industrial hygienists can go in and that's a good service, because employees need to know if maybe they're noise always level is too high, or maybe they're being exposed to some type of particulates that are unhealthy. So we have the equipment that we can do that. And then we also offer various types of training that will help the employer train their employee.
Jason Caputo:
That's great I can imagine that you know catching some of these things early, before their injuries, that's going to be a savings for the business as well, in all kinds of ways. That's amazing, I would imagine having all that equipment in those services that would cost a pretty penny if it wasn't offered for free. So that's an incredible value you are offering, And you mention training, can you talk about any specifics, about the training that your program offers.
Elaine Banda:
Oh sure, well first and foremost we all for site specific training. What that means is, let's say you are the consultant at the work site, and they're asking employees and the employer questions. Every employer says, well no we haven't been trained on scaffolding, or no we haven't been trained on machine guarding.
Elaine Banda:
We can offer in house training.
Elaine Banda:
For free, we also offer seafood training for our seafood industry. I have a trainer who can do training on workplace violence, and just understanding OSHA.
Elaine Banda:
Well I don't know what you are familiar with the ten hour but we offer the ten hour training.
Elaine Banda:
If an employer wants their employees to get their OSHA ten hour card that can cost anywhere from Eighty nine Bucks a person to a hundred and eighty nine Bucks a person.
Elaine Banda:
But if you if the employer goes through us for their ten hour card.
Elaine Banda:
It's eight dollars.
Jason Caputo:
Wow wow.
Jason Caputo:
Quite a difference.
Elaine Banda:
Yes a huge difference in our consultants who are authorized OSHA trainers are authorized through to the University of Washington, and that eight dollars doesn't even though the us, it goes to the University of Washington so they can make the cards and send them up here. So we don't make any money from that.
Jason Caputo:
Right.
Elaine Banda:
Right now.
Jason Caputo:
What the savings that's incredible. Wow yeah, you just listed a whole bunch of benefits from working with this program.
Jason Caputo:
Is there anything other any other benefits? Or maybe you could summarize the benefits of working with the your program.
Elaine Banda:
Well there is one other thing I'd like to talk just a little bit about.
Elaine Banda:
Are we do have what we call cooperative program.
Elaine Banda:
And.
Elaine Banda:
It's kind of hard to explain and so on the website https://labor.alaska.gov/lss/ak_chase.htm but let's say you're in the construction industry.
Elaine Banda:
We have a cooperative program called CHASE.
Elaine Banda:
And that is specifically for employers in construction, who have an excellent safety record.
Elaine Banda:
Those employers can apply to be a part of our CHASE program.
Elaine Banda:
Of you go to the website and look at let's say CHASE, you'll see we are presented with the banner, we have a ceremony, but more importantly those employers that are part of our cooperative program, they get removed from the OSHA inspection let.
Elaine Banda:
And then, I'll just give an example, so maybe a few weeks ago the OSHA the enforcement officer showed up at a site.
Elaine Banda:
And then the safety manager said Hey 'I'm part of the VPP program.'
Elaine Banda:
So the OSHA guy, the enforcement guy called his supervisor, and then the supervisor called me and I verified, yes that is our VPP participant that OSHA enforcement person left.
Elaine Banda:
So those are some yet really huge benefits. But it's only those employers who have an outstanding safety record, and have worked with us over the years that can qualify. And they do have to fill out an application that is on our website.
Jason Caputo:
Yeah that's a very important point. It is not that safety is being put in the backseat on those things, it's that these people have already proven they have this track record of safety. That seems to be a theme throughout this whole thing. That that there's really some great benefits for employers to get out ahead of any safety issues. Get the consultation, make the changes that are need, to get all that free service, and then there's all these benefits of not having to deal with that in a more emergency or enforcement situation. That's fantastic. so I guess now we're getting down to the brass tacks here. Let's say a business or employer they're excited about this, they want to move forward and take these wise steps. How did the request consultation services?
Elaine Banda:
Well there are there are a couple of ways to do that you go to the website we're at https://labor.alaska.gov/lss/oshhome.htm and that's Labor Standards and Safety and that will take them to a site but all they have to do is click on the OSHA link and then we're there.
Elaine Banda:
The employer is in Anchorage they can call (907) 268 4955 or outside of Anchorage they can call the toll free number at 1 (800) 656 4972
Elaine Banda:
And also I know my trainer has some information on Facebook. So they can go to the Facebook link our website. I'm not sure about Facebook, but I do know we're on Facebook and they can look this up there as well.
Jason Caputo:
Fantastic we'll make sure that that information, the links the phone number, and we'll get some a link to the Facebook page. We'll get that in the description of this a podcast so people can just click on it.
Jason Caputo:
Yeah thank you so much Elaine for joining us today.
Elaine Banda:
Thank you for giving me, and giving me the opportunity to promote our program. To get the word out to Alaska businesses that we're here. Just request our services and we're here to help.
Jason Caputo:
Fantastic, thank you so much. You've been listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast.
Jason Caputo:
Thank you for listening for joining us. We hope you found the show informative, and that you'll join us for our next podcast.
Feb. 11, 2021 - Unemployment Insurance
Podcast #2 - Common Alaska unemployment benefits issues and tips for avoiding delays
Unemployment Investigator Taylor West discusses "active issues" for UI claims, how users can get their claims more quickly and how to navigate the phone system for unemployment benefits. Hosted by Jason Caputo.
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Jason Caputo:
Hello and welcome you're listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast series, where hear all about how the Department helps Alaskan jobseekers, businesses and communities. Today we're going to be talking about unemployment insurance, a very important topic in these very challenging times. My name is Jason Caputo and my guest today is Taylor West. Taylor is an investigator with the division of unemployment insurance. Thanks so much for joining us today and answering some of these questions. We know it's very difficult for folks right now we also know that the division of unemployment insurance has been doing everything you can to try and process and give services as quickly as possible. I even heard back in April you guys pulled in retirees from all different divisions in an in an all hands on deck effort. So I know it's a tough time but we appreciate you taking some time to help people understand some of the issues that are happening, and also give some tips that may help them to get services and get their benefits. So thanks for joining me.
Taylor West:
Yes absolutely I appreciate you having me here and you know certainly anything we can do to assist the general public in any claimants we have trying to file for unemployment insurance so 'we can do to get some information out there.
Jason Caputo:
Thank you so I'm just gonna jump right into the questions. You know some of these are questions that are frequently asked by some of our customers. So if someone has a claim that says they have a quote active issue.
Jason Caputo:
What exactly does that mean?
Taylor West:
An issue is a circumstance which under state law is potentially disqualifying.
Taylor West:
Claims center staff needs to investigate these issues and determine if you're eligible for benefits or if you'll be disqualified we don't pay benefits until that issue has been decided, so that an overpayment doesn't occur.
Jason Caputo:
Okay great and when we talk about issues what are some of those issues.
Taylor West:
Yes, there is there can be a wide variety, of issues that occur on an individual's claim if you answer yes to traveling.
Taylor West:
If you're not available for work, you quit your job, or you were terminated, those are issues that need to be investigated by claims center staff. You may be eligible for benefits, you may not be and this is what we need to determine.
Taylor West:
Whenever we make a decision on your claim regarding one of these issues you'll be mailed a written determination. So that way you have something special in writing from our office, if you're allowed under that issue then payment will be released if you're otherwise eligible.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, got it, well that makes perfect sense. So how long do people generally have to wait until something like that is resolved.
Taylor West:
It largely depends on the type of issue at hand. If it's a deductible income it may take longer to process because we also need to gather information from your employer, and we need to provide a reasonable time frame to obtain that information. If you voluntarily quit, or were discharged from your job, then we place a hold on your benefits, due to a potential six week penalty. Most other issues though, are addressed in a quicker time frame, because we only need to obtain information from you the client, but it can vary pretty widely.
Jason Caputo:
Okay all right so you're doing basically the essential things that you have to do, but when there's not a lot of those essential things, that you have to do. It can it can happen quicker, so is there anything that people can do to help get them their benefits quicker.
Taylor West:
So the best thing a claimant can do to make sure they get their benefits on time is fill out their online applications completely. Don't leave any of the information blank, if there's an opportunity where they can write in specific information about their claim, we encourage them to write in in detail. You don't need to call the claims center specifically, regarding any issue that comes up on your claim.
Taylor West:
We'll call you if we need additional information so. We'll always make the effort to reach out to you directly. Another thing claimants can do, is make sure they answer their phone, and that they have a voicemail set up, so if we're not able to get a hold of you directly, we can leave you a voice mail. And then that way you can call us directly, at that specific representatives number. If you do receive a voicemail, call that number and they'll be able to assist you in getting that issue closed as quickly as possible.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, all right, great, so make sure you fill out that online form completely. Make sure you have a voicemail set up, so that they can contact you and leave a message for you. Great, and speaking of phones, I know a lot of people are trying to get through on the phone to talk to unemployment insurance. We hear that it is difficult. So why are they having difficulty getting through to unemployment insurance on the phone.
Taylor West:
The unemployment insurance claim center answers an average of fourteen hundred calls a day. And upwards of eighteen hundred calls a day during our busiest times. We're busier at the beginning of the week. People get notified over the weekend, and then everyone calls in on Monday. It then that kind of tapers off towards the end of the week. But it's certainly busiest on Mondays. Our phone system has to have a limit on the number of calls that we can allow in. The claim center answers phones from nine AM until roughly five thirty PM Monday through Friday. Excluding holidays, so if an individual is attempting to call in and if they can't get through directly we encourage them to continue to try and call in.
Calling right at nine AM when the queue opens gives individuals the best opportunity to get through and placed into the queue before that queue fills up.
Jason Caputo:
Okay another question that we hear a lot is why someone can't just get placed into a queue when they call, and be placed on hold, or leave their information and get a call back.
Taylor West:
So the claim center does have a call back and hold service available, but what happens is when an individual calls in, if that queue is full, we have a limited number of calls that we can have come in at a given time. If that queue is full it doesn't allow individuals that option to be placed on hold or leave a call back number. If it's not full then they get placed in the queue and individual can wait to speak with a claims center representatives. Our phone lines stop taking incoming calls at four PM and it takes us another hour to an hour and a half, maybe even two hours, depending on the day of the week, to answer the calls that are already waiting. We continue to hire and train staff to assist us to we can increase the number of calls we take per-day, about right now just based on our current staffing levels that's about where we're at.
Jason Caputo:
Okay understood, and you know when someone calls in they're going to have a pretty long recording that they hear. So why the long recording, especially if someone can't just be put on hold.
Taylor West:
We're required by law to provide specific information each time an individual calls. And the claim center is much more efficient rather than a claim taker reading that information to you. By placing that information in an automated message each time someone calls and it's actually helping us to decrease the amount of time that representatives have to spend on the phone with individual claimants, and again that's helping us increase the number of calls we can take per day and the number of individuals we can assist.
Jason Caputo:
All right all, right that makes sense, yeah. That makes perfect sense now that you explain it like that. Even though it doesn't seem like it it's actually saving time. In the long run making sure there's more claims takers available, to process all this and the things that they're saying I'm assuming which are required by law on the recording are things that you don't need to inform people about specific legal requirements. So it's not something we choose to do, we have to do it by law.
Jason Caputo:
Now let's move on to another topic and I'm gonna first ask you know what this acronym means it's P. E. U. C..
Taylor West:
So P. E. U. C. stands for pandemic emergency unemployment compensation it was originally passed in early 2020 specifically in response to the corona virus pandemic and it's just another option for individuals filing for unemployment insurance.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, great, so why can't someone file for extensions that are that are available for this online.
Taylor West:
So the different extension programs we have available like P. E. U. C. and extended benefits, those programs change extremely rapidly.
Taylor West:
Specifically in response to different legislation that's passed. With all the different extensions that we've had, and continue to have, we needed to complete the programming to allow individuals to file those online. It's simply quicker for us to have claims center staff, take and enter those extensions for claimants.
Taylor West:
There's a wide variety of circumstances that determined which extensions you're paid any given period of time.' By having a claim center staff specifically review your information, determine which extension you need to be placed on, and make sure the appropriate application is taken. It's again just another decision we've had to make to ensure that claimants are being serviced appropriately and that they're getting the best service we can offer. There's just so many different variables that won't allow for online applications.
Jason Caputo:
That's helpful to know because it's frustrating otherwise. If you didn't know the details, because it seems like it's something that could be done, but when you explain it like that, If you try to do something like that, where it was online, it would take so much time. It would be taking people much longer to get all this processed, and actually get the benefits. So that makes sense, that that's the reason you're doing it that way. So what about being able to reopen one of these extension programs online? Is that a similar kind of situation?
Taylor West:
The same reason.
Jason Caputo:
Yeah.
Taylor West:
Yeah absolutely so the applications for starting a claim and reopening a claim that has already been started are very similar, or regular employment insurance benefits they're extremely similar just a couple different questions that maybe aren't necessary in one situation they are in another. But for regular employment those are extremely similar. It's the same situation with P. E. U. C or on any other form of extended benefits. Because they're so similar it's just due to the efficiency of rolling up the programs. It's the best option for claimants, to simply have a claim center representative take that application with you.
Jason Caputo:
Great thanks for that information, so last question on this this kind of topic. I know some people might receive a letter saying that their benefits are about to exhaust and so they're trying to get through on the phone they can't get through on the phone. It could be a little stressful can you give them any advice about you know what's happening in that situation and what can they expect.
Taylor West:
So an individual is notified that their benefits have exhausted, or are about to exhaust, and if they're about to exhaust, we begin notifying individuals three weeks before they run out of their benefits. I'm certain individuals filing weekly we can typically track that pretty closely, and will know ahead of time when the individuals about to run out of benefits. So that's when we start notifying individuals. We send them automated notices that say, 'Hey you're about to run out of your benefits as of right now you have three weeks or less remaining' and then when they actually run out, they get another notice letting them know that they've officially run out of regular benefits. Once a claimant starts getting those notices from us, especially understanding that it's difficult to get through to the claims center currently, we advise start trying to call the claim center immediately. So if they received that notice try, calling in and get a representative on the line, understanding you know that could take quite a while to actually get through to someone.
Taylor West:
We encourage individuals to continue completing their weekly certification. That form that they complete each week, to try to receive benefits, even if they've exhausted their benefits. We encourage them to continue completing those applications. Then claim center will accept an application for an extension program and enter it once you have a zero balance, if you haven't hit that point already. The new monetary determination will be mailed, and it'll show that your extension has been added, but essentially we notify you ahead of time, trying to call us right away, and we'll get that entered as quickly as we can.
Jason Caputo:
Yes very that's brilliant helpful tips for it for something that could be stressful for people so it's great to have that information on what to do.
Jason Caputo:
Let's let's go to a new topic as well. We get some questions about adjudicators.
Jason Caputo:
So for example when someone is told an adjudicator will be calling them and they haven't, why haven't they called them yet.
Taylor West:
So kind of reaching back to those active issues that we were talking about, on the individual's claim if there's an issue on someone's claim, so for example if you're voluntarily quit your job, or you were terminated, a representative or an adjudicator needs to collect additional information from both you, and your employer. Those issues are worked in date order, from the oldest to the newest. They're worked in the order in which their received. The claim center staff is extremely backlogged due to the pandemic, but they are working those issues as fast as they can. Separations take quite a bit longer to process your information on, because again, information is gathered from two parties. They're not just one, so instead of just having to speak with the claimant about where they traveled to over the weekend, they actually need to get information from both them and the employer.
Taylor West:
They may need to ask additional questions of each side and get a reasonable amount of time to both sides to provide that information. So there's quite a few reasons an educator may not reach out to a representative already. But if you've been informed that by claims center staff, go and sit tight someone will reach out to you.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, you know in some of those situations, I can understand it may seem someone may question, you know do you really need this information?
Jason Caputo:
Sometimes it happened a long time ago why do you need that type of information?
Taylor West:
So the issue is on an individual's claim our issues that by state law we have to examine. By law, when a claim is filed the claimants last work has to be examined, to determine if the separation issue exists. Your former employer may also provide us with some information that you separated from work, and we need to investigate that. If it's somehow reported incorrectly, and then we hear different from the employer, that may cause an issue. Where we're looking at something that happened quite a while ago. We didn't know about it before but we find out about it later that can because those kind of delays.
Jason Caputo:
Right, okay, so again this is a common theme here.
Jason Caputo:
You have to do some of these things. Well number one you have to do because it's a law, and it's required. It's not something where you're making up there. And really the way you're doing it, is making the process actually go faster in this case. If you don't do it early on it can cause a lot of delays later on.
Jason Caputo:
So let's again let's switch to a new topic here, Key Bank and we have a few questions about Key Bank. One of frequent ones, why didn't someone received their Key Bank card.
Taylor West:
So the Key Bank card is the default way the unemployment insurance claim center issues payment out to individuals. Individuals also always have the opportunity to set up for direct deposit. But by default we simply use Key Bank. If an individual hasn't filed for unemployment insurance ever before, or it's been quite a long time since they filed. We'll go ahead and just mail a Key Bank debit 'card if they don't set up for direct deposit right away. That way anytime we issue payment out that's where that payment will go. It'll just show up on that card. The cards we issued are valid for three years from the date they're issued from KeyBank. So if you've had a prior debit card and hasn't expired we won't automatically re issue you a card unless you specifically contact the claim center and request one.
Taylor West:
If you haven't had a payment to your card in over a year, if you call the number on the back of that card to reactivate it Key Bank temporarily deactivates those if there isn't any activity there
Jason Caputo:
Okay what happens if someone you know for one reason or another if they didn't keep their card they don't have it anymore?
Taylor West:
Yes certainly so that's a common one, where we see, you know an individual was filing for unemployment insurance they stop, they don't believe that they need those resources anymore, so they're either you know destroyed or misplaced, one reason or another. If that does happen to a client we always request that they just contact the claim center, and request a new card. A claim center representative can get that taken care of pretty quickly. We just reach out to Key Bank and then they send you a new one.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, and they could find that the claim center number on their website.
Taylor West:
Correct on the website. If they're already filing for unemployment insurance statements and unemployment insurance claim and handbook the numbers are also located in there.
Jason Caputo:
Great now if someone did ask for a replacement card and they haven't received it what are some of the reasons that might happen?
Taylor West:
So if they haven't received it it's usually just a time frame issue it takes two to three weeks to receive a new card if it's been any more than that we request individual reach back out to the claim center to follow up directly.
Jason Caputo:
Okay, and I think there's an option for an expedited card, what happens if they haven't gotten expedited card that they requested.
Taylor West:
Yes, an expedited card is a feature Key Bank allows us to offer if they haven't received an expedite a card, again probably the same issue just a matter of timing. There even if they're expedited, they can still take anywhere from seven to ten business days to arrive. So quite a bit faster than the standard method, but you know still does take some time there, and then same situation if it's past that period, and they still haven't received that card, we want them to call the claims center and again we can certainly follow up for him.
Jason Caputo:
Okay that's all the questions I have about Key Bank, and now I just have some miscellaneous questions about different things that people often ask. We know you guys often get these questions. One example is sometimes people it might be convenient for them to have their claim backdated. Why can't that happen? Why can't a check be backdated?
Taylor West:
So that's another issue where we're pretty strictly bound by law. By law claims are affected the Sunday of the week the application is submitted to us, and they can't automatically be backdated. They have to contact us directly to backdate a claim. They would just have to again speak with a claims center representative about that issue and they'll be assisted directly.
Jason Caputo:
Okay so that's again that's not a division of unemployment insurance rule that's that's a law that that we're bound by, okay.
Jason Caputo:
Another very frequent question is, when if someone hasn't already, when are they gonna get the six hundred dollar payment?
Taylor West:
So the six hundred dollar payment was part of the stimulus and it's not payable directly from unemployment insurance.
Jason Caputo:
Okay.
Taylor West:
The different programs that are payable from unemployment insurance are things called F. P. U. C. or Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. What that is it's a three hundred dollar per week payments payable to those who receive unemployment insurance extensions or PUA 'Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. Essentially if an individual is filing for one of our own employment programs and they're eligible for benefits in a given week, they should also be receiving that additional three hundred dollars that week. This was effective when you filed for benefits the week ending January second 2021. So essentially the first week ending in 2021 that's when that program started, and it's automatically added to each week paid with their currently filing for unemployment insurance they should be getting that three hundred dollars per week. On top of what they would normally collect from their benefits.
Jason Caputo:
Great thanks for clearing that up. Now here's another very stressful situation that that hopefully you have some advice for people. What if someone has COVID-19 and they can't work what can they do.
Taylor West:
So if an individual is actively employed and they contract COVID-19 notify your employer. That's the best thing you can do in that specific circumstance. Make sure you get them aware as quickly as possible and work with your employer directly and what your options are.
Taylor West:
File claim if you haven't already go online.
Taylor West:
Complete a claim for unemployment insurance benefits if you haven't already, as you may be eligible for benefits. COVID-19 does create one of those potential issues we had talked about before so it is something that will have to be reviewed otherwise if you do already have an existing claim just make sure you notify the unemployment office so again they can start that review process for you.
Jason Caputo:
Great that's important tips for people. Now there's a term that is used frequently in these situations, tell us what a 'base period' is it can be confusing for some people.
Taylor West:
So a base period is a term we use to clarify the time frame that we're looking at to determine what an individual is eligible for. For unemployment insurance benefits. So a base period is a time period of eighteen months that we use to determine your eligibility, essentially the past eighteen months from whenever you filed your unemployment claim.
Taylor West:
The wages you earned in covered employment during that time period determine your monetary eligibility so whatever your weekly benefit amount would be.
Taylor West:
A regular base period if we want to get specific in the first four of the last five completed calendar quarters immediately preceding the effective date of their new claim.
Taylor West:
But again much more generally it's just the past eighteen months.
Jason Caputo:
Okay thanks for clarifying that. Now we're on our last question, and again some one of those things that can be somewhat frustrating, so really glad that you're here to kind of explain this to people, what's going on, so let's say someone has been allowed to file a claim, and yet they're still not getting paid what can be going on in that situation.
Taylor West:
So there's a variety of different things that could be occurring there, but at a base level unemployment insurance is an eligibility based program, we will always accept a new claim that someone can file.
Taylor West:
They have to earn wages from covered employment during that base period that we had mentioned before, so they have to earn money. They have to have a total of gross income of over twenty five hundred dollars, and that has to have been earned over two calendar quarters of their base period.
Taylor West:
They must maintain their eligibility while receiving benefits through a variety of different methods. They have to be physically able and available for full time work, actively seeking and reporting weekly work searches, and registering for work if required. When an individual files for a new claim, they're informed of what they're filing requirements are so, they know what they need to do in order to receive benefits.
Taylor West:
If they're not getting benefits it could be determined that they weren't eligible for benefits for one reason or another. They may not have earned enough or one of those issues could be denying their benefits there's a variety of reasons there.
Jason Caputo:
Okay well that's that is a lot of fantastic information, and some tips on how people can get through this process a little easier.
Jason Caputo:
You have been listening to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development podcast thank you Taylor West for talking about unemployment insurance with us today. We know that people can be having a very stressful time with all the things that are going on.
Jason Caputo:
We really thank you for coming and being transparent about some of the issues that people can face, and if they have questions and things like that a lot of the information that you shared can be found online at the website, and there's also again you referenced a unemployment insurance handbook, the people get at the start of this whole process.
Jason Caputo:
So thanks for listening and joining us we hope you found the show informative and you'll join us for our next podcast coming soon thank you.
Feb. 1, 2021 - ANTEC AMEC
Podcast #1 - AVTEC Director Cathy LeCompte and host Jason Caputo discuss benefits of the Alaska Maritime Education Consortium for Alaska
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Jason: Hello and welcome you're listening to the Alaska department of labor and workforce development podcast series where you hear all about how the department helps Alaskan jobseekers businesses and communities. My name is Jason Caputo and with me today is my guest Cathy LeCompte we're going to be talking about the Alaska Maritime Education Consortium Cathy thanks so much for joining us can you please briefly introduce yourself and talk about your role.
Cathy: Sure I am the division director of the Alaska Vocational Technical Center. We lovingly call it AVTEC. We are a division of the department which makes us owned and operated by the state of Alaska. So I like to say AVTEC is Alaska's training center and we've been training Alaskans for work in Alaska for fifty years.
Jason: Wow fifty years I did not know that, I have heard of AVTEC of course many Alaskans have, and I’m aware of many of the training programs that you guys put on the help so many Alaskans. Today we want to talk about something you guys are involved with specifically the Alaska Maritime Education Consortium or A. M. E. C. can you briefly explain what that is.
Cathy: Sure first I want to say that the Alaska Maritime Training Center is situated at AVTEC. We have a huge maritime training center that is operated out of out of AVTEC and the Alaska Maritime Education Consortium is a collaborative partnership between our maritime training center at AVTEC and the University of Alaska’s maritime training center.
Cathy: They have several located around the state and together we've created this consortium to expand access to maritime education and training across the state.
Jason: Gotcha okay well that makes perfect sense so it's a collaboration between AVTEC and the University of Alaska’s maritime training programs that makes a lot of sense and off the top of my head I can think of a lot of advantages. Let's break it down what are the advantages for Alaska job seekers from this collaboration.
Cathy: For jobseekers it's going to provide them at better access to the training because as we join forces we can increase our training capacity of both AVTEC maritime training center and the university because the university has a lot of community campuses across the state that have facilities that we can share and after because a lot of training programs. We have over forty US Coast Guard approved courses that can be delivered in Coast Guard approved training centers across the state so by joining forces we're bringing the training to Alaskans. So they don't have to leave their home and come to Seward to go to Ketchikan or Kodiak or wherever and get their training they can get it right there at home.
Jason: That's fantastic and it is especially for a state like Alaska where we have such huge geography issues were all spread out and we have transportation issues bringing the training to people is so valuable.
Jason: So if we take a step back and we look at the broader picture what's the benefit of this collaboration this consortium for the state of Alaska as a whole.
Cathy: The benefit to the state of Alaska as a whole is that by joining forces we can share resources and it's cost effective that way. It's not cheap to do career technical education or vocational training it's an expensive undertaking but a very necessary one because students have to have the ability. Alaskans have to have the ability to get their hands on stuff and learn how to do stuff and it wouldn't be very cost effective if we built up lots of resources in one or two areas it's going to work much better if we could collaborate take resources that we have and share them or share facilities. So for example right now AVTEC has forty Coast Guard courses. Our instructors are all Coast Guard approved our center is Coast Guard approved.
Cathy: Ketchikan has fewer instructors and fewer courses but they have an approved center and they're all approved as well so what we've done is we've cross pollinated so all of our instructors at AVTEC and all of Ketchikan’s instructors at the Southeast Alaska Maritime Training Center are cross approved so they can come to Seward and teach we can go there and teach. So we can increase their capacity by bringing our forty courses there and they can increase their capacity by bringing their staff to our simulators. They have simulators as well but ours are a little bit larger so by doing that we're able to share resources and integrate training and make it more cost effective training program for the state of Alaska.
Jason: Again that that makes perfect sense sure you’re sharing resources for integrating your training programs so we can get that training to Alaskans in the most cost effective way.
Jason: So let's not forget a third vital element to workforce development Alaskan employers, how does this consortium benefit Alaskan employers?
Cathy: Benefit to employees is that they can hire Alaskans for Alaskan jobs so they won't have to look outside of the state to find a skilled maritime work force. You know Alaska has forty seven thousand miles of coastline, so we have a need for trained maritime workforce.
Cathy: On those forty seven thousand miles of shoreline and employers often have to look elsewhere to get mariners to do the work on tugs and barges in the ferry system. All of that at sea work gets done by bringing the training out to Alaskans. Training them up in their home communities so local employers can have a local work force that they can pull from when they need to staff their barges and tugs and all that.
Jason: Perfect so that's a really clear picture of how this consortium benefits Alaskan jobseekers Alaskan employers and the state of Alaska as a whole. So we've got this great consortium this collaboration is efficient bring training to Alaskans and getting employers the trained work force they need, but what I also heard was that our consortium has applied to become a domestic maritime center of excellence which sounds great but can you explain exactly what that is.
Cathy: Sure the domestic maritime center of excellence was we lovingly call D. M. C. O. E. is a federal designation that came out of federal legislation that was signed into law in December of twenty seventeen and basically they're looking at the different bodies of water surrounding the United States the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, that Pacific, the Gulf of Alaska, Arctic Ocean and they're looking to shore up small community and technical colleges that can teach and train a local work force. Call it a domestic work force but basically it's a local workforce. All workforce development is local what we need for workforce development in Seward is not the same as what they need Nome, and not the same as what they need to Ketchikan, it's very localized.
Cathy: And so when the federal government took a look at what was going on the training that was happening in the maritime work force wasn't as local as they'd like it to be so they put this legislation in place and now in Alaska rather than the university and AVTEC applying separately which wouldn't make very good sense, it wouldn’t be very cost effective. We joined forces and apply collectively for the status.
Jason: So what are the requirements to qualify to apply for a center of excellence designation.
Cathy: The requirements are long and drawn out and I don't have time to explain them today but basically the main thing is you have to be on one of the bodies of water. So we qualify because we're on the Gulf of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean, plus a Bering Straights and all the others that are around Alaska. So you have to be on one of the in bodies of water, plus you have to have been in business prior to 2017 when the legislation was put into place, and you have to offer what they're calling ashore and afloat careers. An ashore career is welding, harbormaster training, coding, vessel maintenance, repairs, ship building, so those are ashore careers.
Cathy: Afloat careers include “on deck”, which is steward, captain, mates, all those folks that drive the ship and operate the ship. Or the ones that are in the engine room, which is your wiper, oilers, junior engineers. Those are afloat careers, and generally those are the U. S. Coast Guard approved ones. The ones on the shore are generally not Coast Guard approved.
Cathy: So you have the Coast Guard approved one for the afloat, and the ones that get the ship's build and keep them operational on the shore.
Jason: Wow okay so. Hearing that list of all those different types of jobs really highlights. How vast the variety is of job opportunities that you're supporting and why it's so important that we collaborate the training to be able to cover all those things. So for my last question.
Jason: I'd like to ask what is the significance of being designated a center of excellence I mean we've applied to be designated as a center of excellence we think we're going to get it because we've got all of those great qualifications that we need. What is that get Alaska what is the significance of being designated a center of excellence.
Cathy: Well it gives us presence on the national stage and that's maybe not a big deal to a lot of people but often presence on the national stage comes with funding, and so are that's not our main purpose but it's an outcome that we are aiming for because even though we're working together and we have shared resources. There's still a need for more resources and so being able to get funds from the federal government through this collaboration makes is very strong makes ask, if you will. It's challenging to get federal funds because Alaska so small in numbers right, so you have seven hundred and thirty five thousand people that live in Alaska. And we are difficult to serve because of our geographic space. So by the time you put together a program and you put all the money in that it's going to take to serve Alaskans, your cost per student is so high that the feds get sticker shock and, very little money flows are direction for these big federal grants, but by working together with the university address AVTEC will be able to provide a strong showing and in addition to that having the domestic maritime center of excellence status will give us also that leg up, We’ll be on the mailing list.
Cathy: When the money hits the ground we're mailing list.
Jason: Well thanks so much for telling us about this exciting work that's happening, this the smart work that's happening, to better use the resources that we have and also to attract more funding so that we can help Alaskan jobseekers businesses and the state of Alaska as a whole.
Jason: Well this is been the first Alaska department of labor and workforce development podcast thank you Cathy LeCompte for talking about the Alaska maritime education consortium with us today thank you listeners for joining us we hope you found the show informative and that you'll join us again for our next podcast coming soon. Good night.
