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New requirements for extended
unemployment |
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March 29, 2012 |
Unemployed Idaho workers moving to extended
benefits face new eligibility requirements under
the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act
of 2012 passed by Congress a month ago.
About 300 unemployment insurance claimants are
making the transition from regular state to
federally financed extended benefits each week.
Their maximum period on extended benefits will
be no more than 44 weeks, cut back from 73, and
they will be denied benefits indefinitely if
they fail to personally meet with Idaho
Department of Labor consultants within three
weeks to receive a local Labor office
orientation including available services, an
employment assessments and pertinent labor
market and career information.
New extended benefit claimants are also required
to submit details of their work search contacts
more often and those contacts will be verified
with employers.
“These new requirements will make sure claimants
are on track to find employment and not get
caught off guard when their benefits expire,”
Labor Deputy Director Jay Engstrom said. In
addition, “the federal government has raised the
bar on accountability for claimants.”
The Labor Department has also implemented
procedures to more aggressively pursue people
who have gone back to work but continue to claim
unemployment benefits and have not been reported
as being hired by their new employer. Although
state law since 1997 has required employers to
report new hires within 20 days of hiring, an
estimated 70 percent of the state’s 50,000
businesses do not comply with that law. In 2010,
their failure to comply allowed 1,776 people to
continue collecting unemployment benefits after
they went back to work, sometimes for months.
The result was an estimated $5 million being
paid to people who did were defrauding the
unemployment insurance program. That reduces the
Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund balance, which
determines employer tax rates. Rates go up as
the balance goes down.
The Idaho Department of Labor launched a public
service radio campaign earlier this month to
remind employers of their responsibility to
report new hires and will be making additional
efforts through social media and on the
department website,
labor.idaho.gov, to educate claimants on
correct reporting and the consequences of fraud
and employers on the need to report new hires
and respond to claims filed against them.
Unemployment insurance fraud is a felony that
can carry a jail sentence. Claimants found to
have fraudulently collected benefits must also
repay the money plus penalties and interest and
are ineligible for benefits for one year. |
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