Title: Unemployment Eligibility Expanded Under CARES Act - CEDR
Headings: Unemployment Eligibility Expanded Drastically Under the CARES Act
Unemployment Eligibility Expanded Drastically Under the CARES Act
Expanded Unemployment Benefits under the CARES Act are not guaranteed and may differ based on your state.
Everyone and their mother is now eligible for unemployment benefits.
Business owner eligibility is unclear.
All employees who qualify for unemployment benefits will receive an additional $600 per week for the next few months.
All unemployment claims should be filed in your state.
Employees will not be able to refuse to come back to work because they would prefer to receive unemployment benefits.
The federal government is offering to reimburse states that set up “work share” programs.
The federal government is encouraging states to waive the one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits.
Employees should not wait in line to apply for benefits.
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Content: And it looks like some states have not yet chosen to amend their laws, even though they will be fully reimbursed by the federal government for all unemployment payments made under the CARES Act expansion. As a result, some of these states are continuing to enforce their “old,” and very limited, state-specific unemployment rules, rather than the new, expanded rules under the CARES Act. If you have an employee whose claim has been wrongly denied, encourage them to appeal. Also, you may want to call your governor to complain that your state is not providing the full benefits possible to employees who have lost their jobs (partially or in full) due to no fault of their own as a result of the virus. Keep in mind, we will likely see more states expanding their unemployment benefits in the coming weeks as they have time to adjust. Everyone and their mother is now eligible for unemployment benefits. The federal government has greatly expanded unemployment benefits eligibility. Employees who normally are not eligible for unemployment benefits under state/federal law, now are. So, any employees who were previously denied unemployment, should likely re-apply. This expansion will be in effect until the end of the year, but employees can only receive a maximum of 39 weeks of unemployment benefits.