New requirements for extended unemployment

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.