Cspanhe senate live on two. By the seniored policy analyst at the National Employment law project. Remind us what your group does and how you do it. Work to advance the interests of underpaid workers racism,ting structural erasing any quality, and Building Worker power. Nelp. Org for viewers who want to check them out online. 6. 6 million americans filed to run employment last week. Put that number in perspective for us. How does that compare to the worst week of the Great Recession . Guest it dwarfs the worst weeks of the Great Recession. It is worse than the 3 million that came before, which dwarfed the highest weekly claims number in history, which was 1982. In 1982, the number was around 680,000. The Great Recession never reach any of those numbers. Host what are the projections for this coming weeks numbers . Guest i hesitate to gas. It is possible that it could be even higher because a lot of people have been trying to get through and have not gotten their claims approved. There are continuing layoffs all over the united states. Host of that 6. 6 million number, do we know how many are layoffs and people not having a job anymore versus furloughing and the fact that there will be a job on the other side hopefully . Guest from the systems perspective, a furlough and layoff are identical. As long as your boss told you you cannot come in and we are not going to pay you, it is unemployed. Trying to figure out the difference between furloughed would beoff fervently speculation on my part. Host for folks who have been furloughed or laid off, give us a call. We want to hear your stories. 202 7488000 is that number. Michele evermore with us at the nationals limit law project. Take us through what is available for those folks who may find themselves in that position of a furloughed or laid off through the cares act that was just past. Should try to apply for regular Unemployment Insurance. People do not believe they are but often are mistaken about that. The cares act does is for workers who do apply for Unemployment Insurance but not my might not be eligible because they are selfemployed or miss misclassified as independent contractors, they should be entitled to a benefit relatively similar to the regular Unemployment Insurance benefit. Anybody getting a pandemic unemployment assistance benefit or a regular Unemployment Insurance benefit should be eligible for an extra 600 per week through the end of july. A pandemichat, emergency Unemployment Compensation provision says that expense benefit eligibility for an additional 13 weeks in every state. Host all these things are available to anyone who lost their jobs . Guest yeah. Somehow, between those programs, anyone most workers should be covered who lost their job because of covid19. One other provision in this legislation that i want to highlight is an incentive for short timeor compensation or work sharing. Instead of waiting on certain ing off certain intervals individuals, employers can spread that across workers to reduce hours by 50 . Then each of those workers could get an unemployment benefit for those lost hours. Plus the additional 600 a week. These will be fully federally funded. In states that already have programs host walk us through the application process. Do you need to apply for each of these things separately . Streamliningf the is not clear from the guidance that just came out. Hopefully workers should just be applicationit one through their employment insurance website. The simplest way to apply is by going to your states Unemployment Insurance website and following the instructions. Youight be the case that if are not eligible for regular on employment insurance and you know that and you are attempting to apply for pandemic unemployment assistance because you are selfemployed or an independent contractor, you should wait until the program is running in your state. Keep an eye on whatever your state is telling you to do in terms of applications. Also make it clear whatever documentation they require. Anerally i would keep on hand 1099, any information you have about how you get paid. Have that ready for the agency. Pay stubs for those who are regular w2 employees. Be ready with your Social Security number, your last 18 months of earnings, plus the names of all the employers you have worked for the last 18 months. Finally, once you start signing up for benefits, the most important thing you can do is not lose your password. A lot of people are having trouble. One of the number one complaint im hearing is people will lose their password and not be able to get it reset except through a phone call or in some states by mail. Keep your password once you start to apply. Host heres an example of one of those state pages for applying front employment insurance. This is the virginia Employment Commission. Michele evermore, why is this run through the states . Why is there not one federal Agency Everyone can go through . To 1935,is goes back when the law was established. There was a lot of debate about whether this should be a state or federal program. A compromise was reached that this is a federal program with some federal guidelines but broad state options to set benefits, set qualifications, set tax levels. All of that is set by the state. Guest what are some reasons somebody could be denied from their claim . What are some reasons summit he could be denied from their claim . Guest if it was determined they , if fired for misconduct they quit. This are the two main reasons. Host i wanted to give you a chance to talk to folks around the country, expect especially those who may have really become unemployed. That phone line, 202 7488000. Mike is on that line from maryland. What kind of work were you doing and when did you lose your job . 2018r i lost my job in said there was abuse. In thise lies going on world. Chele, i know her personally and she is great. System has been misapplied. It has not been designed correctly. On theichele evermore design of the system and ways to make the system better. Guest that is a key point right there. One thing that is not included in any of the packages that have pastor stimulus is underlying Unemployment Insurance reform. Unemployment insurance is different in every state. And some states, people are receiving record low benefits. It is difficult for people to access benefits. Florida, north carolina, fewer than 10 of people in certain quarters who were unemployed were getting Unemployment Insurance benefits. That is going to change now because more people are going to be able to apply and receive we do needut underlying reform. What is going to happen is states are going to spend the money in their trust fund. At the end of this economic downturn, there will be great pressure to reduce benefits, as we saw after the last recession as state trust funds ran out. Host how soon did that happen after the Great Recession . When did the effort to reduce benefits kick in . Guest the first major laws were passed in 2011. Betweene passed largely 2011 and 2015 to really modify state Unemployment Insurance reformsthough massive whenstill taking place alabama reduce their benefits. Host michele evermore with nelp. Org if you want to check out their work and if you have questions about applying for employment benefits. 202 7488000 if you are recently unemployed. 202 7488001 for all others. In louisiana, this is vincent on the line for those recently unemployed. What work did you do . Waiter at as a casino in louisiana. I have a question. We have applied for unemployment. Our casino does not match our funds. I do not know what theyre what weabout, matching were making total. There is no such thing. 600 for unemployment, that does not count in louisiana at all. Where are to wonder they giving all these funds that they are telling us they are sending us and we are not making what we were before . At the most, we are making 140 a week and i was making 500 a week with my tips and regular pay. We get paid lower than minimum wage. Host michele evermore. Guest thank you for raising this. It is difficult for tipped employees to prove what their tipped income was for the purpose of establishing a weekly benefit. In most states, what you have to do is file claiming what your tips were in order for that to count in establishing your benefits. Tipped workers do have a real challenge in establishing eligibility. The good news is those who are not monetarily eligible under the regular Unemployment Insurance program may be able to establish eligibility under the new program. The other thing is the 600 and you provisions have not kicked in yet. For guidance to come down. To take someoing time for states to reprogram their computers. We are talking about 3 million additional benefits two weeks ago, 6 million claims last week. They have been having to process claims at record levels, with low levels of administrative funding and having to reprogram their computers all at once. It may take a little while for provisions to kick in and for you to start receiving the additional 600. Host from what you have seen, which states are doing well and which are not . Guest i think most states are really working hard to make sure workers get these benefits. State unemployment agencies do generally care about serving the unemployed. I have heard of new york state and michigan and washington state, oregon doing really heroic things to get benefits out the door. I think that also every state realized there was likely to be recession soon. They had all been planning to staff up quickly, just not this quickly. Nobody could have anticipated what has happened recently. There are states where there are some problems. I would highlight florida, which has gotten a lot of press in the last week for having insufficient computer systems. Nelp has filed a complete with the department of labor because the application process has been so onerous to keep people from applying for and receiving benefits. Regardless of what state you live in, this is an earned benefit. You deserve it. Keep trying. Keep applying. You will eventually get through. Host jim on twitter makes this comment this morning, saying the stateo way Employment Commission had the staff to investigate every claim that comes in. He said this is a huge giveaway to every worker in america. Guest it is not really huge giveaway, and i would strongly discourage anyone fraudulently applying because states since the last recession have established real penalties for overpayments, especially those gotten fraudulently. It is very clear from the department of labor guidance on all of this that people who fraudulently apply for benefits or quit their job without cause and receive benefits states have been erring on the side of over sometimesud making sure that initial claims are approved correctly. The policing of fraud is out there. It is in real force. It has been a priority for state agencies and the administration. Host one other question from twitter, this from greg in kentucky. If conditions are improved to two months from now, what requirement would there be front up limit recipients to seek and gain employment which would gain them less than the additional 600 they are receiving . Guest there are many protections. Unemployment insurance was set up with the idea of getting people back to work. People must be able and available to work and prove every week so there state Unemployment Insurance agency that they are seeking work, which means submitting information about work searches. Once this virus is passed, people will need to be looking for a new job. They cannot reject in other new that paysther new job as well or is substantially similar to the last job. Host to john in venice, florida. Through thede it unemployment claims process in florida. Days to go through the website application before i finally made it through and at the end there is a phone number to call to verify your identity. I called it 100 times and waited on hold for six hours to find out the piece of information i could tell everyone right now. Is they want you to do submit a copy of your Social Security card, drivers license, your name, phone number, and last four digits of your social to identityrequest deo. Myflorida. Com. Something that makes me even is the person i called was in her home with children playing in the background and i feel this was unsecure as she asked for my Social Security number, my address, my phone number. I could hear from the background that she was not in a professional environment. I feel totally insecure and psychologically. Host thanks for sharing your story. Guest i am sorry to hear you have gone through that. I thank you for sharing this information with other floridians who may be listening. I also think this underscores the need for paying attention to the Unemployment Insurance system and times that are good. All of these cuts, all of these changes were made as the Unemployment Rate dropped. Systems became incredibly inaccessible. We ignored these legacy institutions whenever the Unemployment Rate is low. S underscores the need for to invest in longterm reform and make sure states are never able again in the future to do what florida did. Brenda is on the line for those recently unemployed out of virginia. What kind of work did you do . Caller i worked for the boys and girls club. Host what has your experience been like . Caller i beg your pardon . Host you have to turn down your television and listen through your phone and we can have the conversation that way. Go ahead with your question or comment for michele evermore. Filed an recently unemployment claim in which i was denied. I got a computer call telling me to continue to file weekly. I did not stated that receive benefits in the right quarter, but during those quarters i was doing a training. I do have to file taxes for them and i was wondering if that was why i did not get the unemployment because i did not record that as a job because it was told to me that we were training. Guest right. I would continue to try to contact the Unemployment Insurance agency. One thing that may be the case eligibley find you are for new benefits. You may be able to appeal. I know monitor eligibility requires that monetary eligibility requires that. There may be some way you are eligible either under the new pandemic unemployment assistance or by appealing. Continue to be involved with the agency to try to get benefits. Host heres a question from mike in north carolina. My wife and i sell antiques on ebay. With the total shutdown, the places i pick up my merchandise, such as flea markets and yard sales and estate sales all shut down. All of our business has stopped. Are my wife and i eligible for corona unemployment . Eligibility, determinations are ultimately the decision of your state they interpret the regulation. You may be able to make the case. There were criteria established but total loss of employment that is a direct result from on employment insurance and how it states interpret that is still a little bit how states are going to interpret that is still a little bit unclear. I cannot promise that they will approve your benefits them about you do not know until you apply. Host about 15 minutes left with michele evermore of the National Employment law project, senior policy analyst there, taking your questions about employment assistance during coronavirus. 202 7488000 if you are recently unemployed. 202 7488001 for all others. From minneapolis. Good morning. Caller thanks for taking my question. I am selfemployed as a cosmetologist. All of the loans i am not eligible for because i do not have employees. Per instruction of our commissioner of economic development, we were encouraged to apply for ui, which i did. I was sent a denial letter because im selfemployed. When theon is if and u. S. Department does send any guidance back to the states, will our benefits be retroactive from the original date of our applications were are we just out of luck for all these weeks we are waiting for this to get guest if you are found to be eligible, your benefit will be retroactive from the time you became unemployed. Peoplete will be sending letters that explain to them that they were denied for regular Unemployment Insurance, but now pandemic on employment insurance is in place. The guidance needed for states to implement this was issued sunday night. States can really start their program. It may still be a little while. All of the systems have to be completely reprogrammed at the same time that states are paying out record benefits. This could take a couple of weeks, but you should try to apply for pandemic on appointment assisted and that should be retroactive. To the new programs have any impact for viewers who may be worried about making sure they still get their medicaid or the funding from the Childrens HealthInsurance Program . Guest this income should not be counted against their eligibility for those programs. Host teresa is next out of new hampshire. Good morning. Caller good morning. I do work right now. I am 60 and my husband is 65. I am essential with family dollar. As the numbers get higher, for my own safety, i think i have to leave my job. Would i be eligible if it gets to a peak in the valley . We are hoping it does not and i would like to just keep working. Go ahead, michele evermore. Guest it is unclear how states will interpret the guidance that the department of labor issued. If you have to quit your job as i a direct result of covid19, there is a chance that you can make the case particularly if anyone has tested positive for covid19 that requires you to selfquarantine. The guidance that was issued sunday night seemed fairly narrow. It made it clear that people cannot simply quit and receive benefits. They gave examples about how to interpret the broader language about who can leave work in order to get pandemic on employment assistance. I wo