Ohioans face new unemployment benefit rules

Asso­ci­ated Press

DAYTON — Hun­dreds of thou­sands of Ohioans receiv­ing unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits must meet new eli­gi­bil­ity require­ments while fac­ing the poten­tial loss of their fed­eral unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits by the end of the year.

More than 50,000 Ohioans since March have exhausted their fed­eral extended unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits, and about 300,000 Ohio res­i­dents are among hun­dreds of thou­sands of Amer­i­cans who will no longer receive those ben­e­fits by the end of 2012 unless Con­gress rein­states them, the Day­ton Daily News reported.

Extend­ing fed­eral ben­e­fits to last up to a peak of 99 weeks was intended to help dis­placed work­ers, espe­cially in states like Ohio that were hit hard by unem­ploy­ment. But when Ohio’s unem­ploy­ment rate dropped to 7.5 per­cent in March from 8.8 per­cent a year ear­lier, the state no longer qual­i­fied for the final 20 weeks of extended ben­e­fits, accord­ing to the state.

Mean­while, Ohio has adopted two new eli­gi­bil­ity rules for those receiv­ing unem­ploy­ment checks, in accor­dance with the fed­eral law that extended those ben­e­fits. Those who don’t meet the require­ments could have their ben­e­fits sus­pended, at least tem­porar­ily, said Ben John­son, a spokesman for the Ohio Depart­ment of Job and Fam­ily Services.

One rule requires those receiv­ing fed­eral and state unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits to prove they have been actively seek­ing work.

State jobs offi­cials pre­vi­ously con­ducted ran­dom checks to ensure claimants made at least two poten­tial employer con­tacts each week. But claimants are now required to sub­mit the names of those con­tacted with their weekly appli­ca­tions for ben­e­fits, John­son said.

“There’s no longer the oppor­tu­nity for some­one to hope that they won’t be pulled for a ran­dom audit and not actu­ally search for work,” John­son told the newspaper.

The sec­ond rule requires claimants to attend re-employment coun­sel­ing at local job cen­ters as they near the end of their fed­eral ben­e­fits. State ben­e­fits are avail­able for 26 weeks in Ohio, with fed­eral ben­e­fits kick­ing in when those ben­e­fits run out.

That require­ment is intended to ensure that claimants make con­tact with some­one to talk about their searches and learn about any job or train­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, state and fed­eral offi­cials said.

While fed­eral law requires those receiv­ing unem­ploy­ment ben­e­fits to actively search for jobs and have access to in-person assess­ments at one-stop career cen­ters, indi­vid­ual states are allowed some flex­i­bil­ity in deter­min­ing spe­cific guide­lines, a spokesman for the U.S. Depart­ment of Labor said.

But with­out action by Con­gress, many Ohioans will lose their fed­eral ben­e­fits even if they meet all requirements.

That loss could drive some into bank­ruptcy, said David Jones, pres­i­dent of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Inde­pen­dent Con­sumer Credit Coun­sel­ing Agencies.

“Peo­ple who can’t find work and those who have just quit try­ing have adjusted their lifestyles to live on unem­ploy­ment pay­ments, which has con­tributed to the reduc­tion in bank­ruptcy fil­ings over the last two or three quar­ters,” he told the newspaper.

But some econ­o­mists think cut­ting back extended ben­e­fits might give unem­ployed work­ers more incen­tive to look for a job.

“Like all gov­ern­ment ben­e­fits, peo­ple get hooked on the candy,” said Ken May­land, pres­i­dent of Clearview Eco­nom­ics in sub­ur­ban Cleveland.

Posted by AP News on Jun 11 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.