unemployment benefits

LATEST UNEMPLOYMENT SCANDAL: STATE PAID INMATES $1B IN FRAUDULENT CLAIMS

By Emily Hoeven, CALmatters

CALmatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo via iStock

November 25, 2020 (Sacramento) - California may have paid up to $1 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims filed on behalf of prison and jail inmates in what prosecutors are calling “the most significant fraud on taxpayer funds in California history.”


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AS PANDEMIC AID ENDS, CALIFORNIANS FACE BRUTAL NEW YEAR

By Nigel Duara, CalMatters

CALmatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo:  Jacques Gene at his home in Cool, near Sacramento, with his 7-year-old son Wyatt. They are among the hundreds of thousands of Californians who are bracing for pandemic aid to end, as federal unemployment benefits expire and the state lifts its eviction moratorium. Photo by Hector Amezcua for CalMatters

November 25, 2020 (Sacramento) - In late 2017, a house fell on Jacques Gene. 

The construction foreman in Cool, east of Sacramento, was inside a half-finished home when the rolling trusses that make up the underside of the roof fell, collapsing the whole house. Gene, 46, suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion. When his coworkers sorted through the rubble, he says, they didn’t expect to find him alive. 


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UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EXTENDED SEVEN MORE WEEKS FOR CALIFORNIANS

East County News Service

October 30, 2020 (Sacramento) -- Starting Saturday, October 31, Californians will be eligible for an additional seven weeks of benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. The increase to 46 weeks is available for those who are reaching the end of their initial 39 weeks of benefits that they started as early as February 2. The process for re-computing the PUA claims is expected to take two weeks.  


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UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS INCREASED FOR WORKERS IMPACTED BY COVID-19 AS CLAIMS REACH RECORD LEVELS

East County News Service

April 16, 2020 (Sacramento) – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that effective last Sunday, California workers who are receiving unemployment benefits will begin receiving an extra $600 on top of their weekly amount, as part of the new Pandemic Additional Compensation (PAC) initiated by the CARES Act. This comes as record numbers of unemployment claims are being filed on a weekly basis in the state.


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NEW BILL WOULD LET STRIKING AND LOCKED OUT WORKERS CLAIM UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

 

By Miriam Raftery

February 7, 2017 (Sacramento) -- California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) yesterday proposed that workers who have been locked out by their employer or who go on strike against their employer should be eligible to file for unemployment insurance benefits for the duration of their work stoppage.


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CONGRESSWOMAN DAVIS CALLS FOR EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

 

January 21, 2014 (San Diego)-- Congresswoman Susan Davis, economic experts and San Diegans impacted by the loss of emergency long-term unemployment insurance called on Congress to renew long-term unemployment insurance, which expired at the end of last year.  Davis is a cosponsor of HR 3824, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, to extend the unemployment insurance provisions through March 2014. The measure is in committee.  A companion bill in the Senate was killed by a filibuster.


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UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EXPIRE FOR MILILONS OF LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED

 

By Miriam Raftery

December 28, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) -- Long-term unemployment benefits expired on Saturday , after Congress failed to authorize an extension. People who have been out of work for six months or longer will no longer be receiving unemployment checks.

About 1.3 million Americans will lose benefits immediately, including 222,000 Californians.  By the end of 2014, it’s estimated that nearly 5 million people will lose unemployment benefits. Those checks range from $40 to $450 a week, so this is a major blow for individuals who may have no other source of income.

The New York Times reports that removing this safety net for unemployed workers will push hundreds of thousands of households below the poverty line. With the cut off, only one out of every four unemployed Americans will receive jobless benefits –the lowest proportion in half a century.


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CONGRESS AVERTS GOVERNMENT SHUT-DOWN, BUT BATTLE LOOMS OVER PAYROLL TAX CUT, UNEMPLOYMENT, AND OTHER KEY ISSUES

 

By Miriam Raftery

December 16, 2011 (Washington D.C.) – Final votes are expected today in both houses on a compromise funding measure to avoid a government shut-down--just in time for the holiday adjounrment. 


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SHOWDOWN ON TAX CUTS, UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSIONS LOOMS IN CONGRESS


Local representatives weigh in with their views

 

By Miriam Raftery

December 6, 2010 (Washington D.C.) – Congress is under fire to take action before Bush-era tax cuts expire at year’s end. Republicans want to see all tax extended, but have opposed extending unemployment benefits, which also expire this month. Democrats wanted to extend tax cuts for the middle class but eliminate tax cuts for the wealthy in order to reduce the deficit, and also extend benefits for the unemployed.  But Democrats could not pass their plan due to opposition from Republicans, who contend the wealthy need tax cuts to create jobs.

 

Now, President Barack Obama is pushing a compromise measure that would include a mix of new tax cuts, including a payroll tax cut and individual tax breaks, while also restoring some estate tax revenues.  


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OBAMA SIGNS BILL TO EXTEND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS TO 2.5 MILLION AMERICANS

 

Democrats break Republican filibuster in Senate and win passage of bill

 

July 23, 2010 (Washingon D.C.) – President Barack Obama yesterday signed into law legislation to extend unemployment benefits for 2.5 milllion out of work Americans.

 

The law extends unemployment insurance through November for out-of-work Americans who have not yet exhausted up to 99 weeks of aid. Benefits will be retroactive to late May, when the last extension expired. Benefits vary by state but will average $310 per week.


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