Groups challenge jobless rules
Workers face illness if forced to go back, advocates suggest
Texas unemployment compensation rules require recipients of weekly unemployment benefits to accept offers of suitable work or lose their benefits.
But what about workers called back to work in an environment that poses health risks when hundreds of Texans are dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus?
For now, workers won't have much protection from losing jobs or unemployment benefits if they refuse to return to workplaces that they fear will expose them to COVID-19. Thousands are being called back to work as Gov. Greg Abbott's order allowing some businesses to reopen goes into effect Friday.
Worker advocacy groups on Wednesday asked the state employment agency, the Texas Workforce Commission, for a temporary emergency rule change to broaden the definition of suitable work so vulnerable workers with underlying medical conditions don’t have to risk their health to maintain their income.
About 1.4 million Texans have filed for unemployment benefits.
A group that includes the social service group United Ways of Texas, the labor organization Texas
AFL-CIO and the Austin think tank Center for Public Policy Priorities is asking the commission to consider factors including a worker’s age and underlying medical conditions that could compromise their immune systems and make them more susceptible to the coronavirus.
Workers who don’t receive training, equipment and supplies consistent with federal coronavirus safety guidelines should also be eligible to continue to receive unemployment benefits, according to the letter. The temporary provision would expire in six months.
Hard choices
Worker advocacy groups said they don’t want vulnerable workers to be forced to make a decision between their health and providing basic income to pay food, rent and other bills.
“We want to make sure our unemployment insurance policies are not adversely affecting public health,” said Jonathan Lewis, senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities.
The group also asks the commission to expand the definition of good cause for leaving a job so workers can collect unemployment benefits if employers don’t provide tools and training necessary to avoid contracting the coronavirus.
The commission said it is reviewing the petition, said spokesman Cisco Gamez. The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Texas Tribune first reported that workers could lose unemployment benefits if they failed to return to work because of coronavirus concerns.
Unemployment benefits are designed to help workers who lose a job through no fault of their own get back on their feet. The program is a federal one, but operated by states, which can set many of their own rules. Benefits are funded by businesses that pay a special payroll tax.
In Texas weekly benefits are capped at $521 a week, but the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act signed into law last month added a temporary weekly enhancement of $600, bringing the maximum total to $1,121 a week. Typically, workers collecting unemployment benefits in Texas must look for work, but those requirements have been relaxed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Congressional lobbying
A delegation of 13 members of Congress from Texas asked Abbott to follow the example set by other states and waive the requirement on applicants to re-certify unemployment benefits eligibility every two weeks, according to a letter the Democrats sent earlier this week.
Texans are having trouble accessing the commission’s unemployment system because of the surge of applicants. They can’t get through the phone lines either, according to the group that included several Houston-area representatives including Al Green, Sylvia Garcia and Lizzie Fletcher.
The payment delays, according to the letter, have prevented Texans from receiving benefits for several weeks.
“Your support of a temporary waiver in Texas would help to ease the strain on both (the Texas Workforce Commission), encouraging its more expeditious application processing, and on the many Texans currently forced to spend exasperating hours to get through phone lines and crashing online systems,” according to the letter.