1. (1) The department shall consider the curriculum, facilities, staff, and other essentials necessary to insure that a training program has the capacity to achieve the training program's objectives, including appropriate standards and practices regarding satisfactory attendance and performance of trainees. State-approved training programs may include, but are not limited to, the following:

   1. (a) job search workshops;
   2. (b) vocational or technical training, including basic education required as a prerequisite to such training;
   3. (c) vocationally directed academic courses;
   4. (d) job training programs authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act;
   5. (e) training programs designed to upgrade claimant's skills to meet technological or other advances in the claimant's occupational field; or
   6. (f) training programs designed to improve claimant's employability by enhancing claimant's aptitudes or skills for an in-demand occupation.

2. (2) The department shall consider the following criteria when determining claimant's qualification for training benefits:

   1. (a) claimant's basic work skills, the lack of which may be demonstrated by a history of repeated periods of unemployment;
   2. (b) claimant's history of recent employment that paid federal or state minimum wage;
   3. (c) claimant's lack of formal vocational training or lack of a marketable degree from an educational institution of higher learning;
   4. (d) the diminished value of claimant's skills in the labor market due to changes in technology or major reductions in the industry in which claimant was employed;
   5. (e) claimant's inability to work in the claimant's customary occupation due to documented, long-term physical or mental disabilities;
   6. (f) claimant's reasonable expectation that training will result in higher wages and more secure employment; and

   7. (g) claimant's reasonable expectation for successful completion of the training program, as demonstrated by:

      1. (i) claimant's interest in and aptitude for the course of study to be pursued; and
      2. (ii) claimant's willingness to commit sufficient time to ensure completion of the training.
3. (3) For up to 30 days prior to the start of a state-approved training program, the department shall consider a claimant to be in training after the department approves the training application, even though training may not have started.
4. (4) Upon the department's written approval of a claimant for a state-approved training program, the department shall notify the claimant of the availability of additional training benefits.

5. (5) A claimant in good standing in a state-approved training program may apply to the department for additional training benefits.

   1. (a) Additional training benefits may be paid during break periods of less than 30 days, and weeks including at least one day of training.
   2. (b) Additional training benefits may not exceed an amount equal to 24 times the claimant's regular weekly benefit amount.

   3. (c) Additional training benefits terminate when the following occurs:

      1. (i) the claimant completes the training program;
      2. (ii) the claimant exhausts the maximum additional training benefits payable;
      3. (iii) the claimant leaves or is expelled from the training program; or
      4. (iv) the claimant becomes eligible to file a new, regular unemployment benefits claim at the end of the benefit year.
6. (6) The department shall not charge an experience-rated employer's account, as defined by 39-51-1214, MCA, for benefits paid to a claimant who is qualified to receive benefits under this rule.

Authorizing statute(s): 39-51-301, 39-51-302, MCA

Implementing statute(s): 39-51-2116, 39-51-2307, 39-51-2401, MCA

History: Eff. 12/31/72; AMD, 1988 MAR p. 2723, Eff. 1/1/89; TRANS, from ARM 24.11.412, Eff. 1/1/89; AMD, 1992 MAR p. 2076, Eff. 9/11/92; AMD, 2011 MAR p. 573, Eff. 5/29/11; AMD, 2013 MAR p. 413, Eff. 3/29/13; AMD, 2016 MAR p. 2058, Eff. 11/11/16; TRANS and AMD, from 24.11.475, 2024 MAR p. 1458, Eff. 7/1/24; AMD, 2025 MAR, Notice No. 2025-29, Eff. 7/1/25.