If an individual is a suitable candidate for training but does not meet eligibility requirements for Learner Income Support because of employment, they can be referred to a Human Services authorized official to determine if a Counsel to Leave Employment Approval is appropriate. The following outlines the approval process.

Details

Pre-condition
Individual has been accepted in an approved Training Program.

Trigger
Individual wants to attend an approved training program and has been identified as employed. 

• Client is identified as employed and possibly eligible for a CLE and is referred to a Human Services office; or the
• Learner funding application is received by the Learner Income Support Office (LISO) and LISO identifies that the individual is employed and possibly eligible for a CLE.

LISO

• Individual’s application indicates they are currently employed and working on average more than 20 hours per week, and a CLE has been completed. Application continues to be processed.  
• Individual’s application indicates they are currently employed and working on average more than 20 hours per week, but a CLE has not been completed. A task is created and sent to the regional work queue, advising of the need for CLE consideration.
• If the application indicates the individual is working less than 20 hours per week for the last 12 weeks and they have sufficient insurable hours, the task is sent to the regional work queue.

HS Regional Staff

• Contacts individual, completes an Employability Assessment.  The assessment will include an in-depth review of the individual’s suitability for a CLE; particularly the employment history, including the number of insurable hours of employment in the last 52 weeks for the purposes of determining their potential Employment Insurance (EI) eligibility. If the applicant is working less than 20 hours in the last 12 weeks and they don’t have sufficient insurable hours, a CLE is unnecessary if they plan to continue working. The rational for CLE decision will be documented in the Notes for Identified Needs section of the Employability Assessment.
• Adds Plan Item “Consdr Counsel to Leave (I)” to Service Plan and submits and approves.
• Completes EI verification as per Potential EI Status Verification (I02). Ensures top clusters of Employment Insurance Status screen are completed. If CLE is authorized and no claim found, status will be set as Possibly Eligible. Enter a comment indicating the date of the CLE in the EI Verification screen.
• If CLE is approved, provides individual with copy of Counsel to Leave Employment Approval letter and advises the individual to apply for EI when they stop working. Provides individual with a copy of the Instructions for Active, Regular EI Clients.
• Updates plan item by entering actual start/end dates (when decision was made) and outcome (attained/not attained) 
• If applicable, LISO is advised of CLE outcome through the LBC work queue.

LISO/HS Authorized Official 

• Reviews EI Status screen and continues to verify the EI Claim status weekly until eligibility has been determined for the EI claim application.

If CLE is approved and status is set as Possibly Eligible:

HS Authorized Official

• Notifies LISO to process Learner Income Support application.

LISO

• Process Learner Income Support Application.
• Advise individual to complete a Change in Circumstances when EI claim is finalized.

If CLE is approved and status is Eligible: determines if the individual has sufficient insurable hours to apply for EI benefits and if applicable, notifies LISO.

LISO

If the individual is applying for EI benefits:

• Processes Learner Income Support application.
• Advises individual on an MS Word letter to complete a Change in Circumstances when EI claim is finalized.

If the individual is not applying for EI benefits:

• Processes the Learner Income Support application.

If status switches to Active, Regular Benefits:

• Completes training information on EI Status screen.
• Processes Learner Income Support application.

If status is No Claim and they have sufficient insurable hours, advises the individual to apply for EI benefits if they haven’t already done so.

If individual is applying for EI:

• Completes training information on EI status screen.
• Processes Learner Income Support application.
• Advises the individual on an MS Word letter to complete a Change in Circumstances form when EI claim is finalized.

If individual is not applying for EI (i.e. does not meet minimum hour threshold to qualify)

• Processes Learner Income Support application.
• Enters a note in the Integrated Case that the individual will not be applying for EI and is CFT - Non-EI.

Business Rules/Criteria/Standards

Human Services staff are the only users able to create the Counsel to Leave Employment Approval letter. The letter will be generated and printed from the Person Home page in Mobius.

LISO is responsible for updating the training information on the EI status screen if changes occur. This includes if the individual does not start training, withdraws from training,
or if the start/end dates of training change.

Instructions for how Active EI recipients can report to EI are posted under the Tools and Resource section of the Alberta Works Policy Manual.

To report a break from training of 3 weeks or less (i.e. Christmas break), occurring between the program start and end date, an EI recipient will continue to report ‘yes’ to the training question. When asked for the number of hours attended, they are to indicate at least one hour of training in each week of the break period.