Workers have one year of unemployment benefits. It is causing problems

About a year ago, millions of Americans applied for unemployment benefits in the early days of the Covid pandemic.

This anniversary seems to pose administrative problems in some states. They may lead to delayed aid or a lower amount of aid than anticipated.

“I think it’s a problem that catches certain people,” said Andrew Stettner, a senior member of The Century Foundation.

Claims for unemployment benefits began to rise in the week of March 14, 2020, as the coronavirus sent shockwaves through the job market.

More than 24 million people applied for benefits over the next month, according to data from the Department of Labor. Millions more were applied over the following weeks.

These individuals come to the end of their “profit year”.

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People seeking benefits beyond this point (which is a year since they applied for help) often lead to a review by state employment agencies.

States re-examine a worker’s recent earnings history to determine if they are still eligible for benefits.

Normally, someone who has not found work during the year of benefits would not be eligible for further assistance. This could apply to a large group of workers: about a quarter of the March unemployed had been out of work for at least a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Someone who found a job but had a substantial gap in the job would generally qualify for a lower weekly benefit. (They may also not be eligible, depending on the state and overall earnings).

Meanwhile, the American Rescue Plan expanded unemployment benefits for workers during Labor Day.

These two competing forces appear to be causing some problems in the states and in some cases delaying benefits for workers.

However, problems vary by state and by the specific program that pays benefits at the end of the benefit year, according to Michele Evermore, senior policy advisor for unemployment insurance at the U.S. Department of Labor.

“As we have discussed over the past year, any administrative hurdle will be a challenge for claimants and there is no hurdle that every worker can remove,” Evermore said in an email.

For example, the California Department of Employment Development on Thursday notified workers that most should re-apply for assistance when they reach the end of their benefit year.

The handling of these claims can take up to three weeks, the agency said.

Twenty-one days is the standard barometer for a “timely” payment of unemployment benefits. But that also means some people may be out of income for a few weeks.

New claims must go through fraud screens and identity verification as protection, the California labor office said.

“The massive expansion of federal benefits under the American Rescue Plan comes at a time when many Californians are also reaching the expiration of their initial benefit claims,” the agency said.

The Georgia Department of Labor also anticipates a benefit gap due to the need to re-apply for assistance.

“If you reached the end of your benefit year, you must file a new claim the day AFTER your benefit year ends,” the agency said in a tweet.

The agency recommended that workers continue to request a payment while the claim is being processed and said all eligible payments will be issued once the new claim is reviewed.

Some workers can take up to 14 days or more, the Georgia Labor Office said.

In addition, the Oklahoma Occupational Safety Commission reported this week on technology issues related to the anniversary of the year.

“The OESC team continues to work on resolving reporting issues related to end-of-year benefit dates,” the agency said in a tweet Thursday.

However, some states appear to have taken proactive steps to prevent workers from hiccuping, Stettner said.

The New Jersey Department of Labor, for example, said Thursday it was the only state to automate the benefits year review process. The agency has automatically processed some 275,000 unemployment claims so far, he said.

States have had to contend with a year of historically high unemployment demands, while taking steps to combat unemployment fraud from the rings of international crime and also implementing new federal programs.

The profit year problem is another complication in an already stressed system, Evermore said.

“Anything that adds to the workloads of state agencies will make it difficult for them, in general, to provide all the things to claimants they would like; there is no flow in the system to absorb the extra work,” he said.

Several layers of unemployment programs created during the pandemic have added a layer of confusion for workers.

For example, not all people will have to reapply for benefits. This is probably the case for self-employed workers and other workers in the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program who have not worked for the past year, Stettner said.

Aside from a benefit gap, workers’ advocates are concerned that states will not properly implement new rules aimed at limiting a large reduction in weekly benefits.

The $ 900 billion Covid bailout bill passed in December set a safeguard to limit a reduction in profits to less than $ 25 a week. This applies to people who found little work during the pandemic and who would otherwise have qualified for a much lower state benefit based on this work history.

However, this correction may not be applied uniformly, Stettner said.