Late Monday night, December 21, 2020, Congress passed an omnibus bill (H.R. 133) for federal government spending during the 2021 fiscal budget year, and also includes $900 billion in Covid-19 relief funding. The bill has been sent to the White House, awaiting the President’s signature. The relief package includes a number of assistance provisions for
Updated 10.7 At this time, most states are preparing for an increase in unemployment claims due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however in some cases they have not yet issued specific direction on claims based on disruptions caused by COVID-19. Currently, agencies are considering rule changes that may waive certain claim filing or weekly certification requirements
The Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Unemployment Insurance (DUI), will launch their new unemployment system, BEACON, on Monday, September 21, 2020. In preparation for this exciting system modernization, we wish to provide you with important information. To allow the migration of data from their legacy mainframe to BEACON, the DUI will be taking their
The US Department of Labor has announced $100 million in funding will be provided to States in order to combat UI fraud and recover improper unemployment benefit payments. The Employment and Training Administration has published UI Program Letter 28-20 outlining strategies to help states improve their anti-fraud operations. The massive increase in the number of
A Presidential Memorandum issued on August 8, 2020, authorizes a “Lost Wages Assistance” (LWA) program, to supplement unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, due to the continued need for financial security brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Memorandum can be found here. The $600 weekly Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) supplement to UI benefits expired at the end
On August 3, 2020, the Protecting Nonprofits from Catastrophic Cash Flow Strain Act (S. 4209) was signed into law. Click here to see the announcement. This new federal law “fixes” provisions in the CARES Act and subsequent guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) so that “reimbursing” employers will not be required to first pay
Both claimants and employers can commit unemployment insurance fraud to the detriment of their specific State’s unemployment insurance program. Claimant fraud can occur in several different ways including submitting false information and not reporting wages among other things. Employers can commit UI fraud by taking specific actions to reduce their UI tax liability. Additionally, individuals
On April 2nd 2020 the U.S. Department of Labor published the Unemployment Insurance Program Letter 14-20, outlining the CARES act. Information regarding the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is included in the letter. This may be a useful resource for employers to have all the relevant CARES act information
Secretary of Labor Eugene Scala has published this statement on unemployment insurance claims: “This large increase in unemployment claims was not unexpected, and results from the recognition by Americans across the country that we have had to temporarily halt certain activities in order to defeat the coronavirus. The hard impact of this on American workers