by Christin Brown | March 17, 2020 | News Releases
Provisions of Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Law will be relaxed for the duration of the COVID-19 Emergency to help workers displaced by the pandemic
Philadelphia, PA, March 17, 2020 – State Senator Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) welcomes Governor Tom Wolf’s directive to relax the waiting period, work registration, and work search requirements for Pennsylvanians who claim unemployment compensation benefits during the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic.
Wolf has instructed the Department of Labor & Industry to suspend the waiting-week requirement in Section 401(e) of Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Law. As a result, the first week of a worker’s unemployment will be compensable. This suspension will remain in effect for the duration of the governor’s disaster emergency declaration for COVID-19.
The governor has also directed the department to suspend the work registration and search requirements. These measures will also remain in effect for the duration of the disaster emergency.
“As businesses throughout the Commonwealth make the difficult but necessary decision to close or reduce their operations temporarily in response to the public health emergency, many workers find themselves suddenly without income and wondering how they will pay their bills,” Senator Tartaglione said. “The measures initiated by the governor will allow these Pennsylvanians to collect unemployment compensation sooner and help them to protect their financial wellbeing as well as their physical health.”
Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Law allows for employers to be relieved of charges for compensation once there has been a federal disaster declaration under the Stafford Act and the individual claimants would have been eligible for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Therefore, an employer may be relieved from charges for compensation paid to an individual with respect to any week of unemployment occurring due to COVID-19.
The Unemployment Compensation website offers up-to-date information for workers impacted by COVID-19. Workers may be eligible for compensation should the employer close temporarily or permanently or should the employee experience a reduction in hours. Displaced workers may apply for compensation online.
# # #
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact William Kenny at 215-533-0440 or William.Kenny@pasenate.com.
by Christin Brown | December 14, 2017 | News Releases
The Senate voted to provide $115.2 million for technology upgrades and customer service staffing to help jobless workers claim benefits.
HARRISBURG, PA, December 14, 2017 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione (D-2nd dist.) applauded the Pennsylvania Senate’s passage yesterday of bipartisan legislation to provide $115.2 million over four years for the state’s Unemployment Compensation system, funding that would help to prevent a recurrence of the lengthy delays experienced earlier this year by countless unemployed workers as they sought to claim their benefits.
Senators voted 43-5 in support of House Bill 1915, a measure amending the Unemployment Compensation Law to direct funding into the Department of Labor and Industry’s Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund. The bill dedicates $30.3 million for technological upgrades to the UC delivery system, while the remainder of the funding is meant to ensure adequate customer service staffing through 2021.
“I am pleased that the overwhelming majority of my colleagues recognized the importance and urgency of funding our Unemployment Compensation system appropriately to ensure that workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own can rely on this vital safety net,” Sen. Tartaglione said.
The legislation draws upon the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, money used to pay for jobless benefits and supported by contributions from employers and active workers.
Sen. Tartaglione played a central role in the passage of the bill through the Senate’s Labor and Industry Committee, on which she is the ranking Democrat, as well as the Appropriations Committee earlier this week. Previously, the measure passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 183-4. The legislation will be forwarded to Gov. Tom Wolf for his consideration.
Despite her support of the bill, Sen. Tartaglione will be watching carefully to ensure that the funding will provide unemployed workers with the level of service they deserve and that service doesn’t diminish when the new funding expires in 2021. Without adequate UC funding in place last December, the state laid off nearly 500 Department of Labor and Industry employees and shut down three of its customer service centers.
The cuts caused long delays for unemployed workers as they tried to apply for and collect benefits. In April, the legislature and Gov. Wolf agreed to provide $15 million in funding that allowed the department to recall 187 workers who had been laid off.
# # #
If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Bill Kenny at 215-533-0440 or email at William.Kenny@pasenate.com.
by Christin Brown | October 25, 2016 | News Releases
Harrisburg – October 25, 2016 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) said that an amendment was approved by the Senate today that would aid seasonal/cyclical workers who were negatively impacted by a change in the unemployment compensation (UC) law adopted four years ago.
The amended legislation (House Bill 319) is expected to be considered for final passage in the Senate tomorrow.
“It is imperative that we restore unemployment compensation eligibility for seasonal and cyclical workers who were disadvantaged by the law,” Tartaglione said. “Far too many workers were negatively impacted and this needs to be rectified as soon as possible.”
Tartaglione said the legislation was amended to reduce the percentage of income earned outside an employee’s high quarter in order to be eligible for unemployment compensation benefits.
The formula was changed four years ago by Act 60. Under that law, a worker earning less than 49.5 percent of income in the three quarters outside the high quarter was ineligible for UC benefits. The legislation reduces the percentage to 37 percent and restores it to the previous rate.
Tartaglione said the change is estimated to benefit 44,000 workers. She said many of the workers are in the building trades who became victims of the unintended consequences of the change.
“Families were needlessly impacted and lives disturbed,” Tartaglione said. “Seasonal and cyclical workers were being penalized through no fault of their own.”
Tartaglione, who serves as Democratic chair of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, was involved in negotiating the legislative language to help the workers, in addition to other provisions in the legislation.
She said that she was pleased with the bipartisan work that went into developing the amendment and thanked the chair of the committee, Sen. Lisa Baker (R-Luzerne) for her assistance.
The amendment includes a number of other UC provisions including an increase in the reserve, a modification of the benefit rate, amnesty and anti-fraud provisions and solvency trigger changes that are intended to preserve the integrity of the UC Trust Fund.
The amendment was approved on a 39-9 vote.
-30-
by Christin Brown | September 26, 2016 | News Releases
Harrisburg − Sept. 26, 2016 − Legislation designed to preserve a fund that aids in the processing, administration and adjudication of unemployment claims has cleared the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, according to the bill’s sponsor state Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia).
“The Service and Infrastructure Fund was created to help process unemployment compensation claims, remove backlogs and make the system more efficient,” Tartaglione said. “Unemployed workers should be assured that their claims are handled quickly and that the benefits they are due will be promptly disbursed.”
Tartaglione said that her legislation (Senate Bill 1335) would extend the fund until 2020. The fund was created in 2013 to address system backlogs and make improvements in claim processing. Funds can be also be used for staff and employee training, information technology and other improvements.
“The fund was created to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the unemployment claims processing system,” Tartaglione said. “My legislation would ensure that resources will continue to be available.”
The legislation requires Labor and Industry to report yearly to the General Assembly on the status of the fund. The amount in the fund may not exceed $200 million.
Unemployment Compensation provides 26 weeks of benefits for those who lose a job through no fault of their own.
-30-
by Christin Brown | October 7, 2015 | News Releases
Harrisburg – Oct. 7, 2015 – At a recent hearing of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, members learned first-hand about the impact of recent changes in the unemployment compensation system as it applied to seasonal workers, according to state Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia).
Tartaglione said the hearing, which was held on Oct. 6 at Philadelphia City Hall, included testimony from Kathy Manderino, the state secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry, AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale, representatives of various labor unions, legal services, law firms and employment consultants.
“The labor committee has held hearings on the effect of changes to the unemployment compensation system that involve how seasonal workers are treated,” Tartaglione said. “These hearings provide members with insight into how seasonal workers are now handled in the unemployment system as a result of changes that were recently signed into law.”
Tartaglione said that Act 6 and Act 60 alterations imposed changes in wage calculations for seasonal workers. As a result of Act 6 and Act 60 changes, she said that an estimated 48,000 workers are ineligible for unemployment compensation benefits.
The changes have created difficulties for workers who fail to earn more than 49.5 percent of their earnings outside of the high quarter by making them ineligible for unemployment compensation, the senator said.
“Act 6 and Act 60 changes are a hardship for seasonal workers, especially those who are employed in jobs where the work is highly concentrated in a quarter,” Tartaglione said. “I am hopeful that we can adjust the law to make it more equitable.”
The committee hearing in Philadelphia was the second one that was held concerning the impact of Act 6 and Act 60 changes. The first hearing was convened in Erie earlier this year.
Tartaglione said she expected to discuss this issue more over the next several weeks.
