It’s a tale of two (or more) stories for the Georgia Department of Labor. Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced Friday that regular unemployment insurance initial claims totaled 20,698, down 1,826 over the week and reminded Georgians that the state was ending participation in the federal programs and reinstating pre-pandemic UI requirements. At the same time, The Southern Poverty Law Center and an Atlanta-based law firm announced that they have filed a class action lawsuit against the GDOL and Butler over the long delays suffered by some out-of-work Georgians during the pandemic. And Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) secured a commitment from a key Biden Administration appointee to help fix what he called Georgia’s broken unemployment insurance system.
“This is a step in the right direction (decreased UI claims), but we need to continue to get Georgians back to work,” said Commissioner Butler. “Increasing the amount of people in our labor force is critical for us to continue to improve.”
“We saw the number of claims filed this week drop by almost 2,000 and anticipate this number to continue to fall as Georgians return to the workforce,” Butler added. “After sixty-six weeks of benefits during the pandemic and the release of over $22.5 billion, we look forward to refocusing our organization on reemployment and helping claimants find a career path that will provide the stability and support necessary to provide for their families.”
This past Saturday was the end of the state’s participation in the federal unemployment insurance (UI) programs enacted through the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act and reinstate many of the eligibility requirements waived during the recent pandemic. The last payable week for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and Mixed Earner Unemployment Compensation (MEUC) is week ending June 26, 2021, reinstating additional requirements on June 27 for claimants and employers.
Currently, over 74,000 claimants are receiving benefits through the PUA program designed for self-employed, gig workers, and part-time workers who have been unable to work as a direct result of COVID-19. Almost 93,000 claimants are receiving extended UI benefits through the PEUC program. Payments for both of these programs stopped with the week ending June 26, 2021. Over 56,000 claimants are currently receiving regular UI payments, but after this week will no longer receive the additional $300 FPUC weekly supplement. All eligible payments under any of these federal programs for week ending dates on or before June 26, 2021 will continue to be processed and issued to qualified individuals.
Starting yesterday, June 27 claimants receiving regular state UI benefits are required to be able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work for each week benefit payments are requested. Individuals requesting unemployment benefits must register for employment services in their state of residence to avoid interruption, delay, or denial of benefits, if found to be eligible. Individuals who reside in the state of Georgia must register with EmployGeorgia, the state’s reemployment website, and include his/her social security number during registration.
At the same time, Butler and his department face a lawsuit. Four named and nine anonymous plaintiffs say the labor department violated the law by not acting promptly enough to process and pay workers during the unprecedented jobless crisis. They are asking for an injunction forcing the labor department to comply with state code’s demand for promptness as well as monetary damages.
And Sen. Ossoff asked Robin Carnahan, President Biden’s nominee to be the Administrator of the federal General Services Administration, to commit to helping Georgia’s Department of Labor upgrade their systems. Carnahan committed to do so.
“This is something that’s happened across the country, Georgia is not alone in this, I know it feels like it sometimes, but every state has had similar issues because these unemployment systems were, frankly, not invested in for so many years and then were overwhelmed. But that’s no excuse. And now we have to think of this as an opportunity to rebuild better,” Carnahan said in reports this weekend.
In March, Sen. Ossoff joined Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA-07) in calling on the U.S. Department of Labor to investigate sweeping delays in the processing of approved unemployment benefits throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
