Section 2720.112  Telephone or Internet Certification

a)         Except as provided in subsection (c), each claimant shall be a telephone or internet filer. 

b)         On his or her certification day, a telephone or internet filer shall call a designated telephone number and enter his or her PIN or log onto the Department's website, as applicable, as directed and respond to the questions concerning his or her claim for the prior two weeks.  If a telephone or internet filer misses his or her assigned certification day, he or she may call or certify online on Thursday or Friday of that week, or on his or her assigned day or Thursday or Friday of the next week.

c)         A mail filer will be sent a copy of the questions concerning his or her claim for the prior two weeks and shall respond in accordance with the provisions of Section 2720.115(a); provided, a claimant cannot file by mail unless he or she requests to do so and furnishes information the Claims Adjudicator may require to determine:

1)         He or she speaks neither English nor Spanish;

2)         He or she is hearing impaired; or

3)         He or she has no reasonable access to a touch-tone telephone or internet.  In determining whether a claimant has reasonable access to a touch-tone telephone or to the internet, consideration shall be given, but not necessarily limited to, the following factors:  the claimant's known physical or mental limitations, the claimant's concerns for his or her safety, and the overall level of effort required to access a touch-tone telephone or the internet; an occasional inconvenience or mere preference does not mean a claimant has no reasonable access to a touch-tone telephone or the internet.

A)        EXAMPLE:  A telephone filer, who has no telephone in his apartment, but has used touch-tone telephones in the lobby of his building and elsewhere in his neighborhood to certify, requests to become a mail filer.  His reason is that sometimes he must wait a few minutes for someone to get off the telephone, so he would prefer to be a mail filer.  An occasional inconvenience or mere preference does not mean he has no reasonable access to a touch-tone telephone. He cannot be a mail filer.

B)        EXAMPLE:  An individual who has been a telephone filer fails to certify and more than two weeks have passed since his certification day.  This raises a late reporting issue for the weeks under review, to be resolved by applying the provisions of Section 2720.120(b).  Irrespective of how that issue is resolved, if it is found that the claimant no longer has reasonable access to a touch-tone telephone, then, for future weeks, the claimant may certify by mail.

d)         A mail filer may become a telephone or internet filer by simply using those media.

e)         A date shown (or absence of a date) on the Certification Detail Screen shall be rebuttable evidence that a telephone or internet filer certified (or failed to certify) on that date.  If a telephone or internet filer attempts to certify more than two weeks after his or her certification day, this will result in a delay in the processing of benefit payments and raise a late reporting issue, to be resolved by the application of Section 2720.120(b).

f)         All provisions of this or any other Part that are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Section, shall remain in effect.

(Source:  Amended at 43 Ill. Reg. 6385, effective May 14, 2019)