Seyfarth Synopsis:
On May 28, 2021, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law legislation that grants employees emergency paid sick leave for COVID-related illness, quarantine and vaccinations (“COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave”). The law became effective on May 28, 2021 and will remain in place through September 30, 2021, or the exhaustion of $75 million in program funds as determined by the Commonwealth, whichever is earlier. The law also amends the Act Financing a Program for Improvements to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund and Providing Relief to Employers and Workers in the Commonwealth to provide relief to employers facing the sharp rise in employer contributions to the unemployment fund by spreading out costs over a 20-year period.
North Carolina has surpassed $12 billion in initial state and federal unemployment-insurance benefit payments for the COVID-19 pandemic, the N.C. Division of Employment Security reported Tuesday.
Of that amount, regular state benefits are at $1.94 billion, while federal and state extended benefits are at $10.06 billion.
By far the biggest factor in UI benefit payments is the federal pandemic unemployment compensation (FPUC) program at $6.57 billion as of 10 a.m. Tuesday.
That represents 54.7% of all UI benefit payments.
When the FPUC programâs weekly benefit was worth up to $600, unemployed and furloughed North Carolinians received just under $4.88 billion from late March 2020 through July 26. The program temporarily expired in December.