Health issues won’t stop jobless help

Many people who lost jobs from the pandemic are getting offers to return to work. But some people with health issues that put them at higher risk of serious COVID-19 complications are weary of returning to public spaces and risking illness.

Can they refuse to go back to work and collect unemployment?

Normally, the answer is no, because jobless benefits are reserved for people who are out of work at no fault of their own and who have not refused job offers.

But the Arizona Department of Economic Security says in certain circumstances, people can continue to stay home and collect benefits.

People who are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications may be able to collect regular unemployment insurance, which has been expanded to address the pandemic.

Or, if they worked as contractors or for themselves, they may be able to collect something called “pandemic unemployment assistance,” which is a special program Congress set up to help people who wouldn’t normally qualify for unemployment insurance.

But people who have health concerns for not returning to work will face tougher scrutiny to receive or continue receiving benefits.

And people without a valid health reason for remaining out of work can be reported to DES if they reject a job offer, ending their benefits. Furthermore, people who misrepresent their personal information while applying for benefits can be charged with fraud, and DES continues to prosecute such cases during the pandemic.

DES spokesman Brett Bezio said most people are expected to return to work if they can find a suitable job.

“As employers continue to reopen with enhanced health protections and in accordance with guidance from ADHS and the CDC, individuals receiving unemployment benefits are encouraged to return to their previous place of employment if this is an option, or begin a new job as soon as possible,” Bezio said.

“In accordance with requirements for receiving unemployment, claimants are expected to accept bona fide offers of suitable work. However, individuals may continue to receive benefits if they have good cause not to return to an employer, which can include pandemic-related situations.”

Eligibility determined case by case

DES does not offer specific health conditions that allow people to reject job offers and continue getting benefits.

“This is determined on a case-bycase basis,” Bezio said.

But one man who has navigated the unemployment system and continues to get benefits said getting a doctor’s letter was key to winning approval for continued benefits.

Stuart O’Neill, 71, lives in a travel trailer outside Tucson in an area known as Picture Rocks.

He previously worked for years in real estate. And before the pandemic, he was working as a ride-share driver, serving mostly college students around the University of Arizona.

“I had more fun with it than I think any other Uber driver,” he said. “I had fun with the kids, especially when they were on party-time weekends. It was a hoot.” But in mid March, he began noticing passengers wearing masks and he got nervous, calling his doctor with concerns about his heart condition.

“He said, ‘You’re not telling me you’re still driving are you? Are you trying to kill yourself ?’” O’Neill said.

That ended the driving gig.

In mid May, he applied for PUA once that program was available in Arizona.

One of the qualifications for PUA is “the individual is unable to reach the place of employment because the individual has been advised by a health care provider to self-quarantine due to concerns related to COVID-19.”

The online PUA application asks if applicants quit their job and why, including the option, “You were advised by a health care provider to self quarantine due to a compromised immune system.”

O’Neill also got a letter from his doctor to submit with his application.

“You are self certifying that the answers you are giving are true and you have to check off two pages of warnings,” he said. “Then you get finished and ... you have to self certify that under penalty of a felony.”

Former Uber driver gets benefits

After an initial wait of a few weeks, O’Neill got a check for three weeks of minimum benefits, worth $2,151. DES paid that to about 165,000 people who the department determined would qualify for PUA.

“I got the retroactive state unemployment, which is $117 a week for a guy like me with nothing paid into the system, plus the $600” he said.

The federal CARES Act added $600 a week to jobless benefits across the country to address the pandemic. That benefit will end July 25 without an extension from Congress, meaning people getting benefits in Arizona will be left with between $117 and $240 a week.

“It is a significant amount of money, but the yahoos that think living on 600 bucks a week is a gift and would disincentivize you to go back to work are idiots,” O’Neill said. “They’ve never gone out and tried to support their family on 600 bucks a week.”

O’Neill has received money regularly until late June, when he says the weekly payments stopped. He was able to straighten things out with a DES representative, who he said told him the department put a hold on his payments because he had a California telephone number.