- In Florida, off-the-job conduct may put your unemployment benefits at risk, By Jim Stratton, May 11, 2011, Orlando Sentinel: “A just-passed overhaul of Florida’s unemployment laws gives employers the ability to challenge jobless benefits to former employees for behavior that has little to do with how they conduct themselves at work. The provision permits businesses to fight a worker’s benefits claim based on ‘misconduct, irrespective of whether the misconduct occurs at the workplace or during working hours.’ In essence, it allows the business to cite a worker’s private behavior as a reason to deny benefits…”
- Bill could end long-term benefits for jobless, By Marisa Schultz, May 12, 2011, Detroit News: “States could end long-term benefits for laid-off workers and use the money to pay off federal loans for the unemployment benefits under legislation passed Wednesday in the House Ways and Means Committee. States also could use the federal extended unemployment money to pay for federal tax increases on businesses or to start job creation programs. Michigan is to receive $1.3 billion this year from the federal government, which will distribute $31 billion nationally. As a result of the prolonged recession, 29 states owe the federal government a total of $41.2 billion in outstanding loans for unemployment benefits. Michigan, which held the highest unemployment rate in the nation for nearly four years, owes nearly $3.2 billion and must start paying the bill Sept. 30…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty