How President Biden s unemployment insurance comments could impact New Yorkers
Labor attorneys weigh in on what President Biden s comments could mean for New York.
and last updated 2021-05-11 19:28:13-04
President Joe Bidenâs message on Monday, indicating those who are unemployed must take a job or lose their unemployment benefits, isnât new for New Yorkers.
âThatâs probably President Bidenâs talking point,â said Labor and Employment Attorney Robert Boreanaz. âIn New York, people who are on unemployment could not refuse work to them unless they have good cause,â he explained.
And, there wasnât a moratorium for that law.
Angie Davidson already lost her income once during the pandemic. Now she s worried it will happen again.
Davidson, 45, of Wapello, applied for federal unemployment insurance benefits last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced closures of the flea markets and farmers markets where she sold soaps and jewelry and read Tarot cards.
The money that she earned supplemented her husband s $3,500 monthly military disability check, the primary income for their family of five.
Iowa Workforce Development denied her application for benefits. She filed a challenge, and a judge ruled in her favor in September, but Davidson said she didn t receive any payments until late September. For months, she said, the family whittled its savings.
Under the federal stimulus American Rescue Plan that President Joe Biden signed in March, workers receiving unemployment also can collect a $300 weekly payment under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program.
This is not the first time the $300 supplemental benefit was delayed. Claimants saw a similar issue at the end of March.
Other workers continue to receive error messages when trying to claim their weekly benefits, due to an issue that cropped up for those who hit a 14th week of extended benefits, a category of jobless benefits that offer New Jerseyans additional weeks of their unemployment payments.
Since the beginning of the pandemic last March, New Jersey has received more than 2.1 million applications for jobless benefits and given out close to $27.7 billion in unemployment payments.
Gooch asks Kemp to end federal unemployment reliefNews, State & National
May 10, 2021
, by Lauren Souther
ATLANTA – Majority Whip and State Senator Steve Gooch (R-51) has asked Governor Brian Kemp (R) to halt the federal unemployment relief in Georgia.
In a letter sent to Kemp’s desk today, Gooch details how many small businesses are struggling to find people to work. Many restaurants can’t fully open because they don’t have the staff.
“While we are still recovering from the economic impact of the pandemic, local business owners are desperate for employees – not customers. Every job creator agrees that this workforce shortage is a direct result of the federal expanded unemployment benefits, where employees are incentivized to stay home and collect government checks that often exceed what they would earn at the job site. This labor shortage has caused many restaurants to alter their hours of operation and is having an oversized impact on the supply chain of every sect
N.J. unemployment: $300 delayed due to processing error, Labor Department says
Updated May 10, 2021;
New Jersey workers who didn’t receive the supplemental $300 payment should expect to receive it by Tuesday, the Department of Labor said.
The Labor Department said there was a “processing delay” for claimants receiving Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation payments the supplemental checks distributed with unemployment benefits.
“We are working with our partners at the Office of Information Technology and Bank of America, and deposits that have not yet come through will post to accounts tomorrow,” spokesman Thomas Wright said.
FPUC payments are funded through September 4 as part of the American Rescue Plan, the federal stimulus package. It’s available to anyone collecting unemployment benefits.