In the link below, Michigan workers will find information about two new Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) extensions passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Nov. 6, 2009.
Here is the official document from the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/uia/NEW_EUC-Internet__StaffREV11-9_300228_7.pdf
Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2009. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington Urged Congress To Action To Extend Unemployment Benefits Today
State labor officials and worker advocates on Monday appealed for quick Congressional action to extend emergency unemployment benefits and to renew health insurance subsidies for the long-term jobless.
Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act.
The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for up to nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans.
Renewal this month of both forms of aid is “a moral imperative,” Sandi Vito, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said at a news conference here on Monday. Ms. Vito, who was joined by senior labor officials from seven other states, said the extensions were needed “through at least the end of 2010 as a bridge for people.”
Congressional aides said in interviews that renewing the aid programs has bipartisan support.
Democratic Congressional leaders are considering adding these safety net measures to a final spending bill for government operations in the current fiscal year, which they plan to pass before the end of the month. But the immediate prospects were uncertain, particularly in the Senate, which is dealing with health reform and where there is disagreement over how long any emergency extensions should last.
Another year of extended benefits and aid for health insurance, including related tax breaks and a $25 a week addition to benefits that Congress provided this year, would cost about $100 billion, officials estimate.
The state officials and private advocates said on Monday that any delay in renewal would have disastrous effects on people who are on the edge of foreclosure or eviction. Also, if states have to send letters to recipients saying aid is ending and then later must reinstate benefits, “it’s going to be a devastating administrative burden,” said David Socolow, New Jersey’s commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, and would cause delays for applicants.
While national unemployment declined slightly last week, to 10 percent, more than 15 million workers remained unemployed in October and 36 percent of them were jobless more than six months — the highest level of so-called long-term unemployed since data collection started in the late 1940s.
Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard University, said that with so many jobless for so long, the traditional concerns that prolonged benefits would reduce incentives to work were less germane.
“In this economy people will take almost any work they can get, and the prospect of another 13 weeks of benefits isn’t going to alter that significantly,” he said. “People have depleted their savings and exhausted the help of relatives.”
So with prolonged aid, Professor Chetty added, “You are in effect helping them to feed their kids.”
Douglas Holmes, president of UWC, which represents businesses on unemployment insurance and compensation issues, said his group was “not opposed to some further extension,” but cautioned against prolonging benefits too long or adding tax burdens on employers, who already face increases in state unemployment taxes.
The first 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, which average just over $300 a week, are paid by the states with money collected from employers. This year, as part of the stimulus act, Congress agreed to pay for an extra 34 to 53 weeks, depending on a state’s jobless rate. Then, in November, as large numbers started to exhaust that aid, Congress added another 14 to 20 weeks, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks in many states.
But without Congressional action, the extra federal aid will quickly wind down. People who lost their jobs after July 1 of this year, for example, would receive no federally paid extensions once their customary six months of state aid runs out. The extensions are provided in segments and those who are already receiving help in one stage, often awarded for 13 weeks, would finish that term but not receive additional weeks of aid they may have expected.
In January alone, without a renewal, benefits would halt for more than one million unemployed people, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group and a co-sponsor of Monday’s press conference, based on data received from the states.
Ms. Vito, the Pennsylvania official, said her office had started receiving desperate calls from people whose health subsidies had just ended and who were unable to pay the full premiums themselves. Under federal Cobra provisions, a laid-off worker can retain his or her previous health insurance for up to 18 months by paying the full cost.
But many, without work, cannot afford the premiums. The federal government this year has paid 65 percent of the cost for up to nine months. Large numbers who started receiving the subsidy this year have used up their time, and since Dec. 1, the aid has not been available for the newly unemployed.
For the average worker with a family plan, the premiums required under Cobra add up to nearly as much as unemployment benefits, according to Families USA, a group advocating health care reform.
Also participating in Monday’s call for action were officials of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Women’s Law Center. State officials from Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington joined in the plea for Congress to act.
Full Link at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/us/08unemploy.html
Prolonged unemployment insurance, passed this year in the stimulus act, expires this month, and officials estimate that more than one million workers will see benefits end in January if Congress does not act.
The health subsidies, under which the federal government pays 65 percent of insurance costs under Cobra for up to nine months, have already expired and are not available to the newly unemployed, who will have to pay family premiums averaging $1,100 if they want to keep their existing health plans.
Renewal this month of both forms of aid is “a moral imperative,” Sandi Vito, the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said at a news conference here on Monday. Ms. Vito, who was joined by senior labor officials from seven other states, said the extensions were needed “through at least the end of 2010 as a bridge for people.”
Congressional aides said in interviews that renewing the aid programs has bipartisan support.
Democratic Congressional leaders are considering adding these safety net measures to a final spending bill for government operations in the current fiscal year, which they plan to pass before the end of the month. But the immediate prospects were uncertain, particularly in the Senate, which is dealing with health reform and where there is disagreement over how long any emergency extensions should last.
Another year of extended benefits and aid for health insurance, including related tax breaks and a $25 a week addition to benefits that Congress provided this year, would cost about $100 billion, officials estimate.
The state officials and private advocates said on Monday that any delay in renewal would have disastrous effects on people who are on the edge of foreclosure or eviction. Also, if states have to send letters to recipients saying aid is ending and then later must reinstate benefits, “it’s going to be a devastating administrative burden,” said David Socolow, New Jersey’s commissioner of Labor and Workforce Development, and would cause delays for applicants.
While national unemployment declined slightly last week, to 10 percent, more than 15 million workers remained unemployed in October and 36 percent of them were jobless more than six months — the highest level of so-called long-term unemployed since data collection started in the late 1940s.
Raj Chetty, an economist at Harvard University, said that with so many jobless for so long, the traditional concerns that prolonged benefits would reduce incentives to work were less germane.
“In this economy people will take almost any work they can get, and the prospect of another 13 weeks of benefits isn’t going to alter that significantly,” he said. “People have depleted their savings and exhausted the help of relatives.”
So with prolonged aid, Professor Chetty added, “You are in effect helping them to feed their kids.”
Douglas Holmes, president of UWC, which represents businesses on unemployment insurance and compensation issues, said his group was “not opposed to some further extension,” but cautioned against prolonging benefits too long or adding tax burdens on employers, who already face increases in state unemployment taxes.
The first 26 weeks of unemployment benefits, which average just over $300 a week, are paid by the states with money collected from employers. This year, as part of the stimulus act, Congress agreed to pay for an extra 34 to 53 weeks, depending on a state’s jobless rate. Then, in November, as large numbers started to exhaust that aid, Congress added another 14 to 20 weeks, bringing the potential total to 99 weeks in many states.
But without Congressional action, the extra federal aid will quickly wind down. People who lost their jobs after July 1 of this year, for example, would receive no federally paid extensions once their customary six months of state aid runs out. The extensions are provided in segments and those who are already receiving help in one stage, often awarded for 13 weeks, would finish that term but not receive additional weeks of aid they may have expected.
In January alone, without a renewal, benefits would halt for more than one million unemployed people, according to projections by the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group and a co-sponsor of Monday’s press conference, based on data received from the states.
Ms. Vito, the Pennsylvania official, said her office had started receiving desperate calls from people whose health subsidies had just ended and who were unable to pay the full premiums themselves. Under federal Cobra provisions, a laid-off worker can retain his or her previous health insurance for up to 18 months by paying the full cost.
But many, without work, cannot afford the premiums. The federal government this year has paid 65 percent of the cost for up to nine months. Large numbers who started receiving the subsidy this year have used up their time, and since Dec. 1, the aid has not been available for the newly unemployed.
For the average worker with a family plan, the premiums required under Cobra add up to nearly as much as unemployment benefits, according to Families USA, a group advocating health care reform.
Also participating in Monday’s call for action were officials of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Women’s Law Center. State officials from Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New York and Washington joined in the plea for Congress to act.
Full Link at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/us/08unemploy.html
Friday, December 04, 2009
Don Ingram - Tennessee Department of Labor Explains Reasons Benefits Are Delayed.
This is a clip from News Channel 5 with Don Ingram, Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Admin, explaining the cause for delay about the latest unemployment extension and answering call in questions about the matter. Although each state is having to deal with different circumstances, the common reason for the delays are all related to the process of implementation and the high amounts of claims the departments are having to process. Mr. Ingram explains that claims are up 120% and at one point in the video states that the department simply was not designed to handle the number of claims which are being received.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Jim McDermott Introduces Legislation To Extend Jobless Benefits and Reauthorize ARRA.
Many are wondering what Congress will do about the need for a bill to rectify the glitch in the previous unemployment extension bill passed last month. The deadline for eligibility according to the bill was December 31, 2009 - this meant that anyone who had not yet exhausted their benefits would not be eligible to receive the additional 14 week extension. It also meant that those who had exhausted their benefits and were receiving the 14 week extension would not logically have been able to file for the additional 6 weeks if they were living in a high unemployment state. (The bill was signed into law with fewer than 14 weeks left in the year.)
On Wednesday, House Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced bill HR 4183, which would fix the glitch. The bill would push the deadline back from 12/31/09 until March 31, 2011. This would ensure that millions of unemployed Americans who would have been given the short end of the stick will be eligible for the additional 14-week tier of extensions nationally, and the 6-week tier on top of that in high unemployment states.
This $100 billion bill could be incorporated into the jobs bill currently being assembled, which would then total $300 billion and include state aid, SBA loans, expanding business loans, a work-share program and infrastructure spending.
On Wednesday, House Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced bill HR 4183, which would fix the glitch. The bill would push the deadline back from 12/31/09 until March 31, 2011. This would ensure that millions of unemployed Americans who would have been given the short end of the stick will be eligible for the additional 14-week tier of extensions nationally, and the 6-week tier on top of that in high unemployment states.
This $100 billion bill could be incorporated into the jobs bill currently being assembled, which would then total $300 billion and include state aid, SBA loans, expanding business loans, a work-share program and infrastructure spending.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Tennessee Department of Labor Explains Preliminary Details
The following information is a post written by Mr. John Partlow, Tennessee Department of Labor. Hopefully, this information gives Tennesseans an idea of what to expect in the coming weeks regarding the latest unemployment extension signed into law on November 6th, 2009 by President Barack Obama.
Here is the information he has provided:
"Like we posted on our website, the letters are scheduled to go out December 7th and 8th. The letters will go out only to those who have exhausted all of their entitlement and aren’t drawing anymore. The letters will instruct you to go to our website on December 11 to file the application. Those that are currently receiving unemployment should transition from EB into EUC Tier 3 or from EUC Tier 2 into EUC Tier 3, depending upon what they are currently receiving.
Hopefully, the checks will start to be mailed the following week after Friday, December 11. Once I know more about the specific day, I will let you know. There is a massive check run on Sunday night and Monday night for TUC payments and then a massive check run on Tuesday night for EUC Tier 1 and 2 payments, then a check run on Wednesday night for EB, so most likely, the EUC Tier 3 and 4 checks will be a Thursday night check run.
So, more than likely, the first checks for EUC Tier 3 will be issued on December 17.
This means that if you applied on December 11, you should be issued lump sum payment that covers the weeks of:
11-14
11-21
11-28
12-5
and possibly 12-12
Then you would start certifying weekly. I believe that the day we are going to assign for EUC Tier 3 and 4 to certify will be Thursday. Its my understanding that you will be able to certify through TIPS or online. The days for certifications will be:
Sundays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an even number
Mondays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an odd number
Tuesdays – EUC Tiers 1 & 2
Wedensdays – EB
Thursdays – EUC Tiers 3 & 4 and makeup day for everyone
If you haven’t worked since you last certified for a week of benefits, your claim should quickly be approved. If you have worked somewhere, we will have to verify the separation with your most recent employer before you are approved. Also, if you aren’t able and available for work or have some other individual circumstance that prevents you from working, that must be adjudicated as well before you can receive these benefits.
The work search requirement is not the same as EB. The tangible work searches are only for those receiving EB. EUC Tiers 3 & 4 go back to the state policy of work searches where you must register for work through the career centers (which everyone, I am sure, is already registered) and seek work using your customary means.
I hope this helps everyone understand what to expect in the next week or so."
Here is the information he has provided:
"Like we posted on our website, the letters are scheduled to go out December 7th and 8th. The letters will go out only to those who have exhausted all of their entitlement and aren’t drawing anymore. The letters will instruct you to go to our website on December 11 to file the application. Those that are currently receiving unemployment should transition from EB into EUC Tier 3 or from EUC Tier 2 into EUC Tier 3, depending upon what they are currently receiving.
Hopefully, the checks will start to be mailed the following week after Friday, December 11. Once I know more about the specific day, I will let you know. There is a massive check run on Sunday night and Monday night for TUC payments and then a massive check run on Tuesday night for EUC Tier 1 and 2 payments, then a check run on Wednesday night for EB, so most likely, the EUC Tier 3 and 4 checks will be a Thursday night check run.
So, more than likely, the first checks for EUC Tier 3 will be issued on December 17.
This means that if you applied on December 11, you should be issued lump sum payment that covers the weeks of:
11-14
11-21
11-28
12-5
and possibly 12-12
Then you would start certifying weekly. I believe that the day we are going to assign for EUC Tier 3 and 4 to certify will be Thursday. Its my understanding that you will be able to certify through TIPS or online. The days for certifications will be:
Sundays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an even number
Mondays – Regular TUC if your SSN ends in an odd number
Tuesdays – EUC Tiers 1 & 2
Wedensdays – EB
Thursdays – EUC Tiers 3 & 4 and makeup day for everyone
If you haven’t worked since you last certified for a week of benefits, your claim should quickly be approved. If you have worked somewhere, we will have to verify the separation with your most recent employer before you are approved. Also, if you aren’t able and available for work or have some other individual circumstance that prevents you from working, that must be adjudicated as well before you can receive these benefits.
The work search requirement is not the same as EB. The tangible work searches are only for those receiving EB. EUC Tiers 3 & 4 go back to the state policy of work searches where you must register for work through the career centers (which everyone, I am sure, is already registered) and seek work using your customary means.
I hope this helps everyone understand what to expect in the next week or so."
Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee All On the Same System?
An antiquated computer system is slowing payments to South Carolina's jobless and officials say it will take weeks to bring the system up to speed.
The Greenville News reported Sunday that the 23-year-old computer system at the Employment Security Commission isn't set up to allow payments to jobless workers who have been unemployed for more than 79 weeks.
ESC assistant deputy executive director Jimmy Jones said the 23-year-old system was not designed to make payments easily and has to be programmed to allow the payments. Jones said that could take at least two weeks.
"It could be longer," Jones said. But the agency can't go outside to get experts to work on the system because it is so old and in-house staffers understand how it works, he said.
Asked if the agency could use experts from places like Clemson University or the University of South Carolina, Jones said, "We really can't utilize people like that."
The issue of the agency's computer system initially came up in January when Gov. Mark Sanford and the state Department of Commerce wanted information about unemployment claims and jobs that the ESC said its computers couldn't produce without significant programming that could take up to six months to complete.
Jones said the agency sent officials to Virginia to check out their computer system because it was one that provided information similar to what Sanford was requesting. But the real problem was the governor requested data ESC didn't compile and track.
Currently, South Carolina is a member of a four-state consortium that is working to determine the feasibility of designing a system that could be used by all four states, with tweaking for each state's individual unemployment system programs, he said.
The feasibility study, expected to take 18 months to two years, will kick off next month and be funded with a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Once the study is completed, the consortium of the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee will seek another grant to build the system, he said. That could easily be in the range of $50 million and also would be funded by the Labor Department.
The Greenville News reported Sunday that the 23-year-old computer system at the Employment Security Commission isn't set up to allow payments to jobless workers who have been unemployed for more than 79 weeks.
ESC assistant deputy executive director Jimmy Jones said the 23-year-old system was not designed to make payments easily and has to be programmed to allow the payments. Jones said that could take at least two weeks.
"It could be longer," Jones said. But the agency can't go outside to get experts to work on the system because it is so old and in-house staffers understand how it works, he said.
Asked if the agency could use experts from places like Clemson University or the University of South Carolina, Jones said, "We really can't utilize people like that."
The issue of the agency's computer system initially came up in January when Gov. Mark Sanford and the state Department of Commerce wanted information about unemployment claims and jobs that the ESC said its computers couldn't produce without significant programming that could take up to six months to complete.
Jones said the agency sent officials to Virginia to check out their computer system because it was one that provided information similar to what Sanford was requesting. But the real problem was the governor requested data ESC didn't compile and track.
Currently, South Carolina is a member of a four-state consortium that is working to determine the feasibility of designing a system that could be used by all four states, with tweaking for each state's individual unemployment system programs, he said.
The feasibility study, expected to take 18 months to two years, will kick off next month and be funded with a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Once the study is completed, the consortium of the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee will seek another grant to build the system, he said. That could easily be in the range of $50 million and also would be funded by the Labor Department.
Kentucky now accepting claims for extended unemployment benefits.
Eligible claimants can file online at www.oet.ky.gov.
The state said in a news release that the nearly 10,000 Kentuckians who have used all 79 weeks of unemployment benefits may be eligible for payments retroactive to Nov. 8. A link will be available in the online application by the end of this week to allow requests for retroactive payments.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tennessee Residents - November Unemployment Insurance Benefits Extension
The Tennessee Department of Labor has stated that applications to apply for the latest unemployment insurance extension may do so online on December 11, 2009. If you have exhausted your benefits and qualify for this extension, you will be sent a letter in the mail within the next week which will include a monetary determination and instructions for the application process. Those who are currently getting unemployment insurance should automatically transition into this latest extension, if needed.
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