Examining Government Regulations on Unemployment - Assignment Example

There are several standards and regulations that are followed by the to provide benefit to the unemployed. To be eligible to receive compensation, the individual must be partially or fully unemployed and must have an appropriate job separation (PMO, 2008). Certain types of separation are not qualified by the law and hence ineligible for receiving compensation. The individual must be able to meet weekly requirements – these include being physically and mentally able to work and being available for and seeking work. He must also be filing weekly claim for benefits on a timely basis. In addition, a dependency allowance of $15 weekly is also given (including for a step-child or for any child that the individual acts as the guardian or is the main support). Such dependents must be either under 18 years of age or under 21 years and a full-time student, or a mentally and physically handicapped child of any age. Dependency allowance is given only for one parent for one week for the same child and total dependency allowance cannot be paid for more than five dependent. If an individual is working less than full time, the unemployment benefits would depend upon the gross earnings for each week. To receive such partial benefits, one must be able to work and available for work as defined by law. The government has Federal-State unemployment insurance benefits which are intended to provide temporary financial assistance to unemployed workers who meet the criteria (USDOL, 2008). While each state has its own program to deduce the amount and the time for which benefits are provided, in most states benefits is based on the tax imposed on the employers. In most states the ‘base period’ on which the calculations are made, it is usually the first four out of the last five completed quarters prior to the time when the claim is filed. The applicant must have become unemployed for no fault of his own, which is necessary in every state, apart from meeting the individual state criteria. Claims can now be made over the internet or the telephone but complete details of the previous employment and employer are taken. Hence to expedite the matter, accurate details help. The first benefit check takes 2-3 weeks after the claim is made. Benefits are paid for a maximum of 26 weeks but additional benefits are allowed in high times of unemployment. Such benefits are also subject to federal income taxes and have to be reported on the federal income tax returns. The federal government also provides disaster unemployment assistance (DIA) to individuals whose employment or self-employment has been lost or interrupted as a result of a major disaster declared by the government (USDOL, 2008a). Such individuals must not be receiving the regular unemployment benefits. The other criteria remain the same as regular unemployment benefit seekers. The regulations laid down by the federal government impact the employer in different ways. The unemployment tax payable by the employer increases if they lay off workers who receive unemployment benefits (Flu, 2008). It has also been found that that undetected, untreated, and poorly treated mental disorders interrupt careers, and this increases unemployment. In fact 90 percent of unemployment rate among adults is among adults with serious mental illness (SAMHSA, 2002). Many of them want to work and could work with some assistance but the nation’s largest program for such people is disability payments. Apart from disability, a very high percentage of people that receive unemployment benefits are those that have battled cancer once and it has been found that cancer survivorship is associated with unemployment. Nearly half of those that survive cancer are under the age of 65 and they are left with physical, social and emotional problems (Gordon, 2009). Employment outcomes can be improved among the cancer survivors through improved clinical and supportive services aimed at better mgmt of symptoms. An individual is expected to spend about 30 percent of his unemployment benefits on the COBRA health care coverage, which is very difficult for the newly unemployed workers as the compensation they receive is an average amount (Families USA, 2009). Because of the high amount of medical insurance, many Americans remain uninsured or run high medical debts and are harassed by collection agents. Thus it forms a vicious circle because unemployment causes more people to remain uninsured. COBRA coverage is unaffordable by most workers even though COBRA allows workers to remain under the program up to 18 months after being laid off. Thus unemployment insurance is only a temporary financial assistance to workers. The state laws to protect the unemployed uninsured are inadequate. Even Medicaid, the healthcare safety net for the low income group of people is not available to the newly unemployed workers. Childless workers are not eligible for this regardless of how low their income is. States are currently cutting their Medicaid budgets rather than expanding them. Changes are being made out and innovative programs worked upon by individual states to ensure that serious mental illness does not lead to "disability dependency" (SAMHSA, 2002). Several states are implementing an innovative supported employment program called IPS, or Individual Placement and Support, which will help to obtain jobs quickly and efficiently for people with serious mental illness. This program has achieved an employment rate of 60-80 percent while the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system had the worst employment outcomes. This has been because the federal agencies have not been quick to assist communities to implement effective programs. The problem of unemployment could be eased to some extent among the cancer survivors and the mentally disabled people if paid sick leave can be increased (Gordon, 2009). As far as medical insurance is concerned, the federal government ahs to take steps to ensure that the recently unemployed workers should get coverage under either COBRA or Medicaid. Besides, in the early years of married life, a couple may be childless and hence it is expected that they would be healthy. For such people the insurance cover would not be very high and hence childless couple should be allowed to receive the Medicaid coverage. In addition, for those eligible for COBRA, a substantial and meaningful subsidy should be provided. Reference: Families USA, 2009, Squeezed! Caught between Unemployment Benefits And Health Care Costs, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/cobra-2009.pdf Gordon, S 2009, One in Three Cancer Survivors on Unemployment Line, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.aspx?docID=624212 PMO, 2008, Filing An Unemployment Claim, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us/progsupt/unemplt/uceligb.htm#Basic Eligibility Requirements SAMHSA, 2002, High Unemployment and Disability for People with Serious Mental Illness, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/NMH02-0144/unemployment.asp USDOL, 2008, State Unemployment Insurance Benefits, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/uifactsheet.asp USDOL, 2008a, Disaster Unemployment Assistance, retrieved online 4 July 2009, from http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/unemploy/disaster.asp Read More