The Department of Labor on Thursday expanded eligibility for unemployment benefits to those facing unsafe workplaces, as well as unemployed parents who had to leave their jobs when schools and day care closed and had no jobs when children returned to work. classroom.
Specifically, the Department of Labor expanded the circumstances under which workers could qualify for unemployment insurance payments through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. The application expands eligibility to:
- Workers denied unemployment benefits after refusing to work in unsafe conditions
- School staff and staff who have been affected by school closings through reduced payments or who have no guarantee of continued payment
- Any worker who has had their working hours cut or who has lost their job as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic
“Today’s guidance opens the door of relief for workers who have faced difficult, if not impossible, choices between taking a job in an unsafe workplace to receive a stable source of income and protecting their health and that of their loved ones,” Patricia Smith, senior adviser to the Secretary of Labor, said in a statement Thursday.
In addition to allowing school officials and workers who feel insecure to claim unemployment insurance, the new guidance also offers relief to those who have had to deal with daycare centers and school closings that have affected their jobs, even after schools have returned to care. in person.
“This is great news for a case we’ve seen a lot: parents [who] left work when schools closed, jobs replaced them and they were left without a job, but the school reopened, ”said Elizabeth Pancotti, director of policies for Employ America, on Twitter on Thursday. She noted that if parents were to leave their jobs as a direct result of Covid-19, even if schools were reopened, they would be entitled to receive unemployment benefits.
Workers can now select more than one reason for their unemployment, so that they can remain eligible for benefits, even if one reason decreases.
The new guidance corrects this “glaring problem” for parents who had to leave work because their children’s school closed due to Covid-19 and did not have a job to return to when things reopened, said Andrew Stettner, a senior member Century Foundation and a leading specialist in unemployment insurance.
The latest expansion of eligibility is part of the PUA program, which was established under the CARES relief package that Congress passed about a year ago. The program specifically covers business owners, self-employed Americans, concert workers and independent contractors who are unemployed or have significantly reduced hours of work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The PUA program is 100% financed by the federal government, but administered by each state.
Thursday’s eligibility changes are retroactive, so workers who previously had no unemployment can re-apply for PUA and receive benefits that date back to the beginning of the unemployment period.
The Department of Labor also requires states to offer workers the option of selecting more than one reason for their unemployment based on Covid-19. That way, they can remain eligible for benefits, even if one reason decreases.