Montana Historical Society
Library & Archives
RS 131_RS 498
Montana. Department of Labor
and Industry. Unemployment Insurance Division.
Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Unemployment
Insurance Division records
1976-1989
2 linear ft
This collection is a subgroup
(Division) of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry records, RS 498. Please
see the primary finding aid for more Montana Department of
Labor and Industry records. These Unemployment Insurance Division records consist
of correspondence, minutes, and miscellaneous subject files of the Unemployment Insurance
Division. There is a subgroup for the Employment Security Advisory Council consisting of
minutes and subject files.
18:4-6
English
The Unemployment Compensation Commission was established by an act of the Montana
Legislature in 1937 "for the compulsory setting aside of unemployment reserves to be used
for the benefit of persons unemployed through no fault of their own". The act provided the
means for assessing, collecting, administering, distributing, and investing contributions
derived from payrolls of employers, and also provided penalties for violations of the act.
The Commission at that time was composed of the Montana State Employment Service Division
and the Unemployment Compensation Division.
In 1969, the name of the Unemployment Compensation Division was changed to the Unemployment
Insurance Division of the Employment Security Commission. Then, in 1971, the Division became
the Unemployment Insurance Bureau of the Division of Employment Security, within the
Department of Labor and Industry. The Bureau again became the Unemployment Insurance
Division in 1982. It was then composed of an Administrative Support Bureau, a Benefits
Bureau, a Contributions Bureau, an Employer Services Bureau, an Unemployment Insurance
Section, and an Unemployment Insurance Claims Investigation Section. After 1985, the
sections were incorporated into other bureaus and divisions and the remaining bureaus
experienced only minor name changes.
These records consist of correspondence (1977-1989), minutes (1984-1987), and miscellaneous
subject files (1976-1988) of the Unemployment Insurance Division. The correspondence
includes interoffice correspondence of Mary Margaret "Peg" Hartman, Charles "Chuck" Hunter,
and David L. Hunter, commissioners and administrators of the Division. There is a subgroup
for the Employment Security Advisory Council consisting of minutes (1984) and subject files
(1980-1984).
The collection is arranged by subgroup and then by series.
Collection is open for research.
The Montana Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Library & Archives
and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written
permission must be obtained from the Library & Archives before any reproduction use. The
Library & Archives does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the
collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization
from the copyright owners.
In 2024, the various collections of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry were
integrated under one collection identifier, RS 498, in order to help facilitate access,
reduce redundancy in the Montana Historical Society Library & Archives catalog, and to
follow best archival practices.
Collections from Montana Department of Labor and Industry's various Divisions and Bureaus
that were previously treated as separate entities are now integrated into this collection, RS 498. Rather than reprocessing over 20 linear feet
of DLI materials, MTHS staff decided to keep the past arrangement of those
collections/finding aids and provide access to them via links in the primary finding aid.
This decision has allowed the MTHS archival staff to maintain intellectual control over the
collection, while removing the need to reprocess it. It also keeps State Agency finding aids
at manageable sizes. Please read the scope and content note carefully to determine if
this subgroup/sub-subgroup pertains to your research needs.
item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers.
Montana Historical Society ibrary & Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information is available upon request.
Printed thesis transferred to Library.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society
Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places
should search under these terms.
Insurance, Unemployment--Montana
Montana
Detailed Description of the Collection
Unemployment Insurance Division
Interoffice Correspondence
1 / 1
Commissioner
1985-1988
1 / 2
Commissioner's Office, Legal Unit
1986-1987
1 / 3
Division Administrator (Peg Hartman)
1985-1986
1 / 4
Division Administrator (T. Gary Curtis, Chuck
Hunter)
1987-1988
1 / 5
Benefits Bureau
1977, 1985-1988
1 / 6
Contributions Bureau
1981-1982, 1986-1988
1 / 7
Planning and Evaluation Bureau
1986-1988
General Correspondence
1 / 8
Correspondence (3 questionnaires re planning for
increased workloads, cash management, and second level benefit appeals)
1979-1980
1 / 9
Correspondence (includes letters to employers
explaining unemployment insurance laws, policies, and procedures; to politicians re
unemployment insurance legislation, to federal agencies re cooperative programs and
evaluation of programs)
1985-1986
1 / 10
Correspondence (re cafeteria plans, unemployment
benefits for school employees, agreements with other state and federal agencies to
share information, "good cause attributable to employment" clause disallowing
unemployment benefits to individuals who quit jobs to follow spouses)
1987
1 / 11
Correspondence (re cafeteria plans, legality of
smoking restrictions in hiring, federal audits of Montana's unemployment insurance
program, computer risk analysis plan, complaints by benefits claimants, agreements
with other state and federal agencies to share information, lack of an AIDS/HIV
policy, and unemployment insurance questions re Montanans employed overseas, school
employees, strikers, and political appointees)
1988-1989
Organizational Records
1 / 12
Goals and objectives for the Division
1988
1 / 13
Lists of administrators and employees
1980-1988
1 / 14
Meetings: Annual and quarterly Division meetings
(includes agendas and notes)
1986
1 / 15
Meetings: Bureau chiefs (agenda)
1986 February 28
1 / 16-30
Meetings: Management Team (agenda packets)
1984-1987
1 / 31
Meetings: Management Team (agenda packets
distribution lists)
1985-1986
1 / 32-35
Meetings: Management Team (minutes)
1984-1987
1 / 36
Meetings: Management Team (minutes distribution
lists)
1985-1986
1 / 37
Meetings: Managers' meeting (includes agenda and
memoranda suggesting agenda items)
1986 May 28
1 / 38
Meetings: Planning and Evaluation Bureau (minutes
and notes)
1986 September 11
1 / 39
Organizational charts
1988
2 / 1
Policies and procedures: Federal directives ("field
memoranda")
1983
2 / 2
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("general administration letters")
1979-1980
2 / 3
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("information bulletins")
1984
2 / 4
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("manual transmittal letters")
1979-1981
2 / 5
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("program letters")
1978-1983, 1988
2 / 6
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("Region VIII general administration letters")
1980
2 / 7
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("Region VIII unemployment insurance letters")
1979-1981
2 / 8
Policies and procedures: Federal directives
("reports and analysis letters")
1980
2 / 9-16
Policies and procedures: State directives
("procedure letters")
1977-1985
2 / 17
Policies and procedures: State directives
("procedure letters" index and distribution list)
1977-1985
2 / 18
Policies and procedures: State policies on
automation
1985, 1987
2 / 19
Unemployment insurance claim process (brief
explanation of process)
undated
2 / 20
Miscellany: forms used by the Division (blank)
undated
Press Releases
2 / 21
News releases (re work search requirements,
unemployment rate forecasts)
1985
Reports
2 / 22
Benefits Bureau quarterly reports
1988
2 / 23
Planning and Evaluation Bureau quarterly reports
1988
Speeches
2 / 24
Workers compensation seminar speech
1984 November 16
Subject Files
2 / 25-26
Audit Bureau Task Force draft recommendations (to
improve the quality and usefulness of audits, to increase the effectiveness of
staff, and to improve public relations)
1986
2 / 27
"Benefit payment control follow-up survey report"
(by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of Audit)
1985
2 / 28
Computers ("Computer communications handbook" and
grant proposal for automation support)
1981, 1986
2 / 29
Legislation: House bills (includes Division's notes
on whether it supported or opposed a bill and why)
1985
2 / 30
Legislation: Senate bills (includes Division's
notes on whether it supported or opposed a bill and why)
1985
2 / 31
Personnel information (re legality of
pre-employment interview questions, evaluating ability to achieve job objectives,
and Employment Security Division's supplemental agreement to the Montana Public
Employees' Association (MPEA) master agreement)
1977, undated
2 / 32-33
Quality Control Program (includes correspondence,
policy and procedures manual, reports, and position description for investigator)
1986-1988
2 / 34
Reorganization (includes memoranda, recommendations
of the Reorganization Committee, and organizational charts)
1986
2 / 34a
Strike case files (samples of typical unemployment
claims filed by strikers during the 1988 strike against Champion International
Corporation at its Bonner and Libby locations
1987-1988
2 / 35
Strike plans
1981, 1983, 1985
2 / 36
"Team guide to a project to analyze unemployment
insurance costs and to develop cost models" (flowchart of a Montana unemployment
insurance process)
1976
2 / 37
Training (unemployment compensation seminar, field
auditor conference, and U.I. back to basics training)
1984, 1986
2 / 38-39
Xebec file (includes contracts and correspondence
re purchase of new computer system from Xebec Systems, and draft of "Montana UI
benefits system requirements definition report")
1984-1986
Employment Security Advisory Council
Minutes
2 / 40
Minutes, agendas, and handouts
1984
Subject Files
2 / 41
"J.C. Penney proposal" (re financing for
unemployment insurance in Montana)
1983
2 / 42
"National views" (report to the President of the
U.S. from the National Commission on Unemployment Compensation and letter from the
National Governors' Association re solvency problems of unemployment insurance
programs)
1980, 1983
2 / 43
"State comparisons" ("Significant unemployment
insurance data: a state by state comparison," by Nevada Employment Security
Research, 1983, and copies from a U.S. Dept. of Labor publication showing
significant provisions of state unemployment insurance laws, 1984?)
1983-1984
2 / 44
Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (re status)
1984
Transfers
Separations to Other Programs
2 /
Transferred to Library: "The Loci and causes of
errors in Montana unemployment insurance monetary determinations," by Robert Earl
Schleicher, Master's thesis, Montana State University, 1986.
undated