June 25th 2021
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As restaurants across the country reportedly struggle to fill many of the grueling positions in their sweltering kitchens, conservative lawmakers have descended on the erroneous consensus that the pandemic-era enhanced unemployment insurance payments are the reason...
Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), announced that members had voted to advance three nominees for labor-policy posts in the Biden Administration. The Committee voted 14-8 in favor of the nomination of...
The coronavirus pandemic has thrust America’s flawed unemployment system into the policymaking spotlight. As millions of Americans lost jobs at the start of the pandemic, federal lawmakers passed the CARES Act to expand unemployment insurance (UI) coverage...
On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) unveiled a draft proposal for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s unemployment insurance (UI) program. Among other things, the proposed bill would require states to offer a minimum 26 weeks...
One year ago, weeks into Covid-induced lockdowns and with the trajectory of the pandemic unknown, Congress passed the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion relief package providing aid to businesses, local governments, and individuals. For workers who lost jobs in the...
In a press release yesterday, district attorneys in both Los Angeles County and San Francisco announced a joint worker protection action against Handy Technologies, Inc., alleging that the housekeeping and home-services company had misclassified tens of thousands...
On Saturday, the Senate voted 50-49 to pass Democrats’ $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, after a marathon debate that lasted for more than 24 consecutive hours. The package was passed through the budget reconciliation process,...
Many American workers faced a Hobson’s choice during the pandemic: either return to unsafe workplaces, or refuse to work and lose wages and unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility. To address the dilemma, the Department of Labor directed states on Thursday to begin...
Last week, 861,000 workers nationwide applied for unemployment assistance, 13,000 more than the previous week. This increase in applications is partly a result of a stagnating job market, one that now has 10 million fewer jobs due to the pandemic. In addition, some...
President Joe Biden’s ambitious pro-worker agenda is confronting a cruel legislative reality. Thanks to the Senate filibuster—a parliamentary maneuver that blocks legislation indefinitely barring a 60-vote override—Democrats’ razor-thin Senate margins make it...
Across the country hundreds of thousands of people are receiving notices from their state unemployment office telling them that they were “overpaid” unemployment benefits and are now in debt to the state. Because most people received expanded federal unemployment...
Today, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh testifies before the Senate Health Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on his nomination to become the next Secretary of Labor. Despite his reputation as a card-carrying union member, Walsh also has developed close ties with...