UI: TOP/Section 30 Training

Flier outlining the DUA's Training Opportunity Program (TOP).

Where the DUA gave the claimant erroneous information about the date her section 30 application was due, and she submitted her application within the time frame she was given, her application was timely.

List of DUA's approved courses for UI claimants receiving training through Section 30 (TOP) program can be found here or by clicking the "go to website" button below.

RE decision denying TOP (Section 30) benefits reversed.  College's shorter summer term requires that claimant devote more hours per week to each course than if course were spread across a (longer) fall or spring semester.  This condensed summer course credit load meets requirement for…

Benefit year per diem job does not disqualify the claimant from participating in the Section 30 program because the employer was not offering any hours. During the training period requested by the claimant, she remained in total unemployment and eligible for regular benefits. 

In the eight years working for the college, this adjunct professor’s offered courses had been cancelled four times—most recently two years earlier.  This was either due to low enrollment or due the course being reassigned to a full-time faculty member.  With this history, he could not be reasonably…

Board approved training benefits to a claimant, who sought to switch Section 30 approval from one full-time biotechnology training program to another before any training began, where both would lead to a biotechnology certificate and be completed within two years, and where the claimant would…

Claimant, who withdrew from the TAA program because he started a FT job, but was then laid off shortly thereafter, was permitted to return to the TAA program because he had never stopped participating in his on-line training.  Since he was reinstated for TAA, his TRA benefits were restored.

The claimant’s classroom instruction in combination with her clinical training constituted full-time training within the meaning of G.L. c. 151A, § 30(c).  She was taking a minimum of 12 credits each semester or the equivalent, pursuant to 430 CMR 9.05(2)(b)(1).

After remand, the claimant has provided reliable evidence showing that, with an aggressive schedule, she can complete her early childhood education bachelor’s degree program in less than 2 years. 

Based upon the review examiner’s finding that the claimant was told she needed proof of citizenship or a passport before the Career Center would assist her with training benefits, and where the delay in obtaining a passport caused the claimant to miss the 15-week application deadline, the Board held…

Claimant was entitled to apply for Section 30 benefits where domestic violence interfered with her ability to meet the 15-week application deadline.  Her full-time practicum in a public middle school was approvable under 430 CMR 9.04(2)(c).

Claimant, whose chosen program applied for and obtained approval to participate in the § 30 program approximately four weeks after he began his training, qualified for training benefits himself.

Claimant, who both began and quit part-time benefit year employment with the instant employer after he had applied for training benefits, and whose application for training benefits was ultimately approved, is relieved of the obligation to accept and retain this part-time job while enrolled in an…

Although the claimant’s school had allowed its Section 30 approval to lapse, the DUA’s JobQuest database now shows that it was approved for the period that the claimant enrolled.  Therefore, the claimant is eligible for Section 30 benefits.

Claimant’s subsequent approval for training benefits under § 30 after a DUA hearing, applied retroactively to when she actually began training, also permits retroactive waiver of the availability and work search requirements under § 24(b), for the same period.

Claimant whose school’s cosmetology program renewed Section 30 eligibility between her application for training benefits and her appeal to the Board was eligible for training benefits.

Work search requirements waived retroactively where the claimant’s Sec. 30 application was initially denied but then approved as a result of the appeal process; claimant also demonstrated that she was available for work even though she was in school full time and even though she had no history of…

A claimant who attends a training program without actively searching for work while his Section 30 disqualification is appealed, is deemed to have been approved for Section 30 benefits retroactively, if he ultimately prevails in that appeal.

Lacking anything in the record to support the review examiner’s finding that the DUA informed the claimant of her 15-week application deadline, the Board set it aside.  Under 430 CMR 9.06(3)(c), the deadline was tolled and the claimant’s application was, therefore, timely. 

Where the school failed to provide the software needed to perform coursework until after the originally approved training program completion date, and the claimant exercised due diligence in pursuing the software and performing coursework upon receiving it, he was entitled to an extension of Section…

Claimant eligible for training benefits where her program was eligible for participation in Section 30 at the time she began her studies, but the program’s eligibility lapsed shortly after the claimant began taking classes.

The Board reversed a Section 30 disqualification during the summer semester where, after remand, he demonstrated that he would be enrolled in 17 credits during this period.

Claimant’s on-going part-time subsidiary work as a Portuguese translator does not render him ineligible for Section 30 benefits.  Since he was permanently separated from his primary job without a recall date at the time he applied for Section 30 benefits, his primary tourist season restaurant…

Claimant withdrew from her Section 30 training program prematurely based on incorrect advice from a college counselor that she’s finished her degree, but enrolled in the first available classes at a community college with approval to have the credits accepted toward her original degree.  Held the…

Claimant who simply changed her degree from a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics to a Bachelor of Science in mathematics, remaining in the same department of the same school, and whose previously earned credits were all acceptable toward her B.S., was eligible for continued Section 30 benefits.  This…

Where the claimant relied upon the school’s representation that it was Section 30 approved, but, in fact, its approval had lapsed, then reinstated a few weeks after she enrolled, the Board refused to penalize the claimant for the school’s error.  Held the claimant was entitled to Section 30 benefits…

Although the training program’s average placement rate fell below the 70% required under 430 CMR 9.05(2)(a), the claimant has demonstrated that his particular qualifications, including veteran status, a high grade point average, and possession of a CDL license, render him likely to obtain…

Claimant who submitted an official transcript, along with numerous other official documents from her school, as well as sworn testimony from her academic advisor to confirm that non-traditional aspects of the program whereby life experiences could be converted into academic credits, established she…

A claimant’s continued subsidiary part-time employment while participating in an approved Section 30 program during her benefit year does not disqualify her from receiving further Section 30 benefits under a new claim. 

A claimant with a documented disability, traumatic brain injury, was entitled to Section 30 training benefits even though she was only enrolled part-time.  Her part-time job as a substitute teacher did not disqualify her from participating in the Section 30 program.

Board reversed decision by Hearing Officer denying Section 30 training benefits because claimant had not enrolled in "first available program" after being approved.  Board noted that regulation requires claimants to enroll in "first available appropriate program" and ruled…

Board reversed decision by Hearing Officer denying Section 30 training benefits because claimant had not enrolled in "first available program" after being approved.  Board noted that regulation requires claimants to enroll in "first available appropriate program" and ruled…

BOR rules that 15-week application period for Section 30 training benefits was tolled because agency failed to provide correct information.  Advocate: Monica Halas, GBLS

Review Examiner awarded Section 30 training benefits to claimant who had to transfer from one Section 30 training program to another when he learned in the course of the first program that he could not physically perform the program's requirements.  Claimant's second program was also…

Board of Review reversed RE determination that claimant was ineligible for UI.  RE had determined that claimant had refused offers of work from employer and disqualified her on that basis. However, at the time claimant refused offers of work, she had been accepted into a training program under…

Where an eligible claimant applies and is admitted into an approved Section 30 training program, but has not yet received the nondiscretionary approval for Section 30 benefits by DUA prior to leaving her part-time employment, she is not disqualified from regular and extended UI benefits.

Here is a way to help your client obtain additional unemployment benefits. As a result of a recent GBLS Employment Unit lawsuit, DUA has agreed that, during the period that federal extended benefits are being paid (i.e until December 31, 2013), it will not enforce the deadline for applying for…

BOR ruled that client did not refuse suitable employment when the employer who had laid her off in December 2008 recalled her to work in April 2009.  The client had already applied for and been approved for Section 30 benefits, but her training program did not start until May 2009.  The…

 Board ruled that WIA-approved training course that had not already been approved by the DUA TOPS Unitwas an approved program for Section 30 purposes, applying 430 CMR 9.05(2)(e).Advocate:  Laura Edwards, MetroWest Legal Services 

The claimant was allowed to commence her approved training program after the expiration of her benefit year because G.L. c. 151A, § 30(c) does not contain any reference to a benefit-year-ending date deadline. Advocate: Greater Boston Legal Services

The claimant was allowed to file for training benefits after the end of his benefit year because G.L. c. 151A, § 30(c) does not impose a benefit-year-ending date deadline and the recession had triggered extended federal benefits, thereby tolling the deadline for filing training applications…

Claimant was initially approved for Section 30 training benefits, but approval was later rescinded by the Training Opportunities Unit because the training program was not full-time.  R/E affirmed denial.  BOR reversed R/E, ruling that training program met regulatory requirement of "12 credits…

Even though claimant's enrollment in TAA-approved training was not within the statutory deadlines, where she filed all TRA paperwork promptly and the delay was due to an administrative error over which she had no control, she will be considered to have complied with the requirements and is…

Claimant applied for §30 benefits. DET sat on her application until after her program had already started, orally assured her it would be approved, but then denied it because the program would last more than one year, in violation of DET regs. BOR finds claimant eligible because she was prejudiced…

Claimant didn't apply for extended benefits until 24th week -- despite receiving notice of the 15-wk deadline -- because career center told her she did not need further training and she believed them. Claimant was an RN who could no longer do direct care and who needed computer skills to qualify…

Claimant applied for training benefits only in 26th week and began training 4 weeks after exhausting his benefits. Following remand and a new hearing, BOR finds 15-wk deadline should have been tolled because claimant received no timely information or notice of deadline. Cites 430 CMR…

The 15-week deadline for applying for §30 benefits begins to run only when a claimant is permanently separated from employment, not when she is laid off on a recall basis. BR-68643 Advocate: Monica Halas, GBLS

Applicant for §30 training benefits learned that course provider would not certify her application by the deadline; DET advised her to just come back when she had a new date. When she did, she was found ineligible because it was later than 15 weeks. BOR holds that the tolling rule in 430 CMR 9.06(4)…