Jquery UI modal show not working

This isn't a CodeIgniter related question, i.m.o.
It's about Javascript and/or jQuery UI.

A few steps you need to check:
Do you load jQuery and jQuery UI correctly?
Do you have a $(document).ready() section to handle jQuery events?

If you replace

Code:

$("#emplinfo_div").modal('show');

by

Code:

alert("You clicked the link to open a popup!");

Does that work?