Job search requirements to be enforced
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March 29, 2013 |
The Idaho Department of Labor is reinforcing its
12-week limit on the period during which
laid-off workers will be considered likely to be
called back to their jobs.
This so-called job-attached status, usually the
result of seasonal shutdowns in various
industries, relieves workers from looking for
new jobs to remain eligible for unemployment
benefits.
“We will no longer have exceptions to this
rule,” Benefits Bureau Chief Josh McKenna said.
“This is part of our continued effort to focus
on claimants as job seekers.”
The decision follows a department analysis that
found an excessive number of claimants failing
to make the required two job contacts a week to
continue receiving unemployment benefits. Since
January, the department has denied weekly
benefits to 231 claimants for failing to conduct
the required work search. During the first three
months of 2011, denials for failure to conduct
work search totaled 158.
With Idaho’s job market showing continued signs
of recovery – the number of nonfarm jobs in
January and February was 2 percent higher than a
year earlier – opportunities for employment are
expanding, McKenna said.
Reinforcing the 12-week limit on job-attached
status eliminates the difficulty – and often
inequity – of assessing seasonal conditions that
vary significantly from one region of the state
to another, and the intensified emphasis on
returning claimants to work protects the state’s
Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which went
broke in 2009 because of the increased demand
for benefits during the recession.
“We aren’t saying that these folks can’t go back
to their prior employer, but rather they need to
look for and find work during the time they are
off,” McKenna said. “It may be in an occupation
opposite their normal industry – for example, a
landscaper goes to work at the local ski resort.
There are available jobs out there right now.”
Idaho’s 12-week limit on job-attached status is
greater than four of the border states – Utah at
10 weeks, Washington at eight, Nevada at six and
Oregon at four.
“This is a nationwide trend,” McKenna said.
“These are our expectations and they need to
look for work to be eligible for benefits.”
To gain job-attached status, unemployment
benefit claimants must have a return-to-work
date within 12 weeks of their layoff or hours
reduction. If their return-to-work date is
beyond 12 weeks, they must look for new
full-time work to remain eligible for benefits. |
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