Eligibility When the Employer Has Vanished
An applicant applies for CET. He has seven years of field experience, a GED, and no apprenticeship certificate. His former employer closed; two supervisors have moved and cannot be reached. His file contains pay stubs for 6.5 years, OSHA 10 and 30 cards, warranty tickets bearing his signature and dates, a customer letter, and a notarized statement from a journeyman who worked alongside him for 18 months. The program requires four years of documented field experience, including two years under the direct supervision of a certified technician or an equivalent recognized by the committee, plus high school completion or equivalency. The applicant’s pay stubs show helper and mechanic titles but not supervision. The committee must decide eligibility and what additional evidence to request.
1. Does the applicant’s documentation satisfy the four-year experience requirement and the two-year supervision requirement? Separate duration, scope, and supervision.
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The three elements must be assessed separately.
Duration: the pay stubs cover 6.5 years, which exceeds the four-year threshold on its face. GED satisfies the educational requirement. So the applicant is not failing for lack of time or schooling.
Scope: pay stubs prove employment dates and titles, not the work performed. Titles such as helper and mechanic are consistent with field experience but do not establish the range of tasks-installation, maintenance, troubleshooting, safety-that the committee needs. The warranty tickets are stronger because they bear his signature and dates and show actual field work, but they are a sample, not a complete record.
Supervision: this is the weak point. The journeyman’s notarized statement covers 18 months, which is 6 months short of the two-year requirement. The OSHA cards show safety training, not supervision. The customer letter speaks to conduct, not who supervised him. The pay stubs do not identify a supervisor.
Conclusion: the applicant has documented duration and likely scope, but not the full two years of supervised experience. He is short by approximately six months unless the committee accepts an equivalent. The correct decision is not outright denial; it is a request for additional evidence and consideration of a provisional path.
2. What additional evidence should the committee request, and how should it evaluate a claim that a missing supervisor was 'equivalent' to a certified technician?
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Request evidence that is both contemporaneous and specific:
- Tax records or W-2s to corroborate the pay stubs and the employment period.
- Records from the successor or acquiring company, if the closed employer’s files were transferred.
- Union dispatch records, apprenticeship logs, or job permits showing dates and tasks.
- A detailed affidavit from the journeyman identifying the dates, the tasks performed, who directed the work, and how the journeyman knew the applicant’s work. The existing statement is too general to carry two years.
- A statement from any certified technician or licensed supervisor who can place the applicant under direction, even for part of the period.
- Work samples or employer training records that show progressive responsibility.
On 'equivalent' supervision, the committee should apply a functional test, not a title test: did the person have authority to direct the applicant’s work, responsibility for the quality of that work, and relevant competence in the conveyance type? A licensed elevator mechanic, a recognized journeyman, or a supervisor with documented code training may qualify. A coworker who merely worked alongside him does not, unless the committee finds that the coworker actually directed the work. The committee should record its equivalence determination in writing so the applicant can see the basis and respond.
3. What should the final eligibility decision be, and how should the committee document a provisional approval if it grants one?
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The proportionate decision is provisional approval to sit the CET exam, not denial. Denial would punish the applicant for an employer’s closure and for missing records he did not create, while full approval would ignore the supervision gap.
The provisional approval should state:
- What is accepted: 6.5 years of documented employment, GED, and the field work corroborated by warranty tickets.
- What is not accepted: the two-year supervision requirement, currently documented for 18 months.
- The cure: six months of additional supervised field experience under a certified technician or committee-recognized equivalent, verified by a supervisor’s signed statement and dates; alternatively, a committee equivalence determination based on additional affidavits.
- Exam status: he may test, but certification is withheld until the supervision condition is met. If he fails the exam, the provisional status does not by itself extend indefinitely; set a review date.
- Appeal: give the deadline and the route to the committee or appeals panel.
The committee should also note the missing-employer problem and accept secondary evidence such as tax records in place of an employer letter. The rationale should be written so that a future reviewer can see why the duration and scope were accepted while supervision was not. If the applicant later produces a credible supervisor affidavit covering the full two years, the committee should reopen the file rather than require a new application.