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Oh you you you you you you you you you you you you you alright folks we're gonna go ahead and get started my name is torie Dempsey I'm an attorney here with legal services of Eastern Missouri with our you think down the advocacy project thank you so much everyone for joining us this afternoon and for tuning in on this important program and with me here today I have Jim guest who is the director of ls EMS volunteer lawyers program along with Stuart Berkowitz who's one of our finest volunteer attorneys here at legal services and whose career has included an extensive work on the unemployment compensation both gentlemen are here with us today to introduce you to some of the new unemployment unemployment programs and the regular unemployment insurance program in addition to the new unemployment assistance that have been made available under the chairs Act and to also describe some of the ways in which legal services may be will help you all and so with that I'm gonna go ahead and hand it off to mr. guest Thank You torrei and it's pleasure to be here thank you all for being here online and as Tory said we're here today to talk about unemployment benefits and how they fit within legal services mission of providing critical free civil legal assistance to low-income people especially in times of needs like like now we want to be responsive to the community we want to be responsive to low income people in the community and some of the challenges they are facing Kovan 19 I think I don't want to be dramatic but it has really changed the world and we are all sort of dealing with some of those changes and how they affect all of us but they really have had a particular impact and a strong impact on our clients people living in poverty people who were already you know on the margin of making it and now facing a real economic crisis including losing jobs facing housing challenges and so we as an organization we want to be there to help assist in those areas and that's what we're here to talk about today the impact on employment has been staggering anyone who watches the news or picks up a newspaper knows with what an economic crisis is is over 600,000 people have applied for unemployment in Missouri since March 50,000 new people last week 90% of the people applying for unemployment benefits their loss of employment is rate-related to covin 19 so this is a true crisis and that's why we're here today this is a new process for us it's a new process for the state of Missouri but it's also a new process for legal services for a long time we've been handling unemployment benefits through the traditional Missouri insurance which I'm going to talk about and we've helped people at the appeal stage and we are still doing that and I'll talk a little about that but we have determined that we need to help and at a broader scope and so we are helping people with their initial application as I said it's a new program for the state of Missouri - so they are also navigating how to implement these new federal programs that provide phenomenal assistance into the existing structure so we're going to talk a little about that today but that that is what we're here to do to help clients navigate that new reality victori can we go back go back one slide yeah so this just is stating what I said legal services is a nonprofit organization what we do is try to help low-income people navigate civil legal matters you can see the areas we help we don't pick these at random these are areas that go really to the essence of survival for people living in poverty housing consumer education family law and we have been providing these services for decades and we will continue to do so but we also want to be as I said responsive to the new needs and the new reality especially that's been brought on back open so we are broadening the work we do what I want to do today is really talk about these new the existing programs as well as the new programs Stuart Berkowitz is going to be joining me or is joining me now he will chime in at various times he will also sort of clean up at the end and sort of provide some closure to what I've already described as Tory sets to has far more experience and knowledge than than I do so I've encouraged him to chime in whenever he can and I guess this really comes down to two questions what are unemployed benefits and unemployment benefits our benefit or payments to workers who have lost a job I mean it's as simple as that there are new laws that have helped workers who have lost their jobs because of kovat 19 and then the second question is who can get unemployment benefits more people now than ever before can get unemployment benefits the new federal system has broadened who is eligible for for services and benefits and we're going to talk about that today so if you have questions during the program what I suggest you do is type them into the chat room Torrey Dempsey you spoke earlier and Dan Underwood a managing attorney here legal services are going to be answering those questions as we go I won't stop for those questions but at the end Tory will perhaps identify some of the questions that are really important that either coming up commonly or have not come up but that we think need to be addressed so but during the presentation please type your questions into the chat box one thing I do want to say before I start going into sort of what we are going to talk about and Tory can you go back one slide just I want to let you know that there are current resources that are in my opinion very informative and very helpful and the Missouri Department of Labor and industrial relations who administer unemployment programs their website really has some very good information and especially good information about the programs in light of the coronavirus and you see the website there the missouri state of Missouri's webpage also has an unemployment website which I also think is excellent and it provides a video on how to get started with your application it's very informative it has phone numbers it has contacts and then lastly and this is not on your page but I'll read to you the website but the legal services website has an unemployment information question and answer page which i think is very informative and it's a wwl sem org kovat 19 updates and again it provides a lot of really good information a lot of what we're talking about today but it's a good place to sort of start so alright we know the next slide so what employee unemployment programs exist in Missouri and so for decades I think since the 1930s the traditional Missouri unemployment insurance program has been in operation and I'm going to talk a little about that because if you qualify for the other traditional program that is where your benefits will you don't get to choose and so if you are somebody who would qualify for the Missouri unemployment insurance even if you've lost your job through by virtue of kovat that's the program you will be receiving your benefit benefits from the new federal programs really add to that existing structure though and they all have similar names so I'm going to try to differentiate a traditional sort of Missouri program and but the new programs as I said are these pua PUC and PE you see and they are all incredible assistance for people who have lost their jobs through the coronavirus and the crisis that that has brought on so we're going to start with the PUA and as I said it's a critical program because it does expand the number and type of people who can apply for unemployment benefits it covers workers who are not eligible for UI which is the traditional program I just talked about so if you are eligible for the Missouri unemployment insurance program that is where you will need to apply and you will have had to have experienced a job loss or reduced hours and it's due to a coded 19 related reason and some of the workers who are eligible eligible for this program and this is ineligible for regular unemployment business owners self-employed individuals gig workers independent contractors individuals who have already collected the benefits through unemployment insurance and people who might not have a sufficient work history to qualify under you UI which is the traditional program it offers up to 39 weeks of assistance which is the 26 weeks plus the 13 of the program I mentioned earlier the benefit amount is the same as the Missouri unemployment insurance benefit amount it does not cover people who are not working but can work remotely or are receiving paid or sick leave after they've left their job go the next slide Tori and please Tory or Stu Stuart please chime in if anything's wrong or you want to add anything to this the conditions which would make you eligible for PUA you must be unavailable and unable to work due to one of the followings I'm not going to read through all of them but they all relate to Ovid 19 you've been diagnosed yourself a household member has been diagnosed you are caring for someone diagnosed with the virus you're providing care for a child because their school or facility is closed to the Cova 19 so you can read through these but you must satisfy one of these reasons to qualify for the pandemic unemployment assistance program the PUA so applying for the PUA you're going to apply through the normal missouri unemployment insurance benefits program you're going to fill out all the information they ask for that we're gonna go through a little bit of that applications but that's where you need to start and we're going to talk about what you need when you go to apply for that but that is where you'll need to start even if you know that you're not going to qualify you will receive a notice that afterwards that you are not an insured worker and not covered under the regular UI system please know that does not mean you're out of luck that is just the system as it is operating now is that you have to apply and be rejected and then you will get a notice that you are eligible for PUA and it provides information on how you can file a PUA claim so don't be discouraged don't be turned off if your initial response is you're not eligible because you may be eligible under the PUA the next slide so this is the notice actual notice you'll receive and I know it's small writing but on the left the the basic first two lines are your unemployment claims was denied you're not an insured worker because you were not paid wages under the UI system so but if you go to the next side of the page on the right side no I'm sorry just on the right side of this program and I know it's small writing if you look at this afterwards you will be able to read it and it says even though you're not eligible for regular unemployment insurance claim you may still qualify for the pandemic unemployment assistance program and it tells you how to apply for that program and we're going to look at that at those application pages too but if you get this notice please know that you still can get benefits or you can at least apply for benefits so just know that the initial rejection is all expected but you have to go through that step okay so the pandemic unemployment compensation the PUC as I said it's an amazing program it provides an extra six hundred dollars per week in a in addition to your weekly unemployment benefits for workers who are eligible either under the original UI program the traditional state of Missouri program or the PUA in payments will be made retroactive Lee for claims filed on or after March 29th this program as it's currently situated or will only lasts through July 25th but it provides 600 hours per week extra which for people who are living paycheck to paycheck is critical so and then the PE you see provides an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits for people who qualify for unemployment even those who have previously exhausted their 20 week limit under the original Missouri program and you will also get the $600 for that for those full 13 weeks if you have previously reached your limit on the missouri traditional program the UI program you will need to reapply for these benefits the puc program is operational now I believe and those who are eligible will be notified by the Department of Labor these these claims were begun processing on April 26 of this year for both the PUC and the PE you see you do not need to go in and file a new application or a separate request for these additional time or additional funds they will be automatically applied to the benefits that you receive so applying for unemployment benefits the quickest most efficient and easiest way to do this is online through the you interact website you can apply by phone I could just tell you that it is harder to get through a bad phone and it is quicker and more efficient to do it online and one of the benefits of doing this with legal services assistance is that we can help you navigate that application online what you'll need to apply so it's I would gather this before you come to us or apply on your own because you're going to need it and there's no way you can apply without this information you'll need your social security number you will need your weekly gross earnings you will need the name and addresses of your employers for the last 18 months and to the extent you can remember the dates that you work for each employer and the amount of hours you work and also you're gonna want your bank account information because when you receive the benefits the quickest and easiest way to get your benefits is through an automatic deposit into your account you can feel safe giving them your routing number and account number they cannot take money out they can only put money in and so you can feel safe and secure giving them that information the application process can take anywhere between 10 and this is 30 minutes I mean I would put aside an hour I mean because you're gonna have to navigate this program figure out where to put it what information you need and again we can help with that if you're a legal services client if you are unsure if you're eligible for benefits I would still apply through this program the worst thing that could happen is you be rejected and you can then contest that or appeal that if you think that's the wrong determination okay so I'm gonna go to the next slide and I will just tell you that I think there were about 50 of these slides if you went through every single one of them I have not put all 50 of those on this presentation but when we load this presentation on to our website all 50 of those slides will be on there I'm going to go through some of the ones that I think are critical and threshold slides so but Stewart or Tori if you think anything needs to be added please do so this first page is your sort of main navigation page and if you are applying for these benefits and you believe you're going to be getting these benefits I would just tell you I think it's worth getting comfortable with this system and with this program because you're gonna have to be getting in and out of it every single week and so to the extent you can have some comfort and ease maneuvering within the program I think it would be helpful you're going to need to set up your own account and that will be your account every time you go back in so please write down your username your password all of that information all of this is secure and safe so when they ask for your social security number first of all you need to you need to supply it but you can rest assured that it is secure that should not be a reason not to apply for or not to fill out this form and you can see this first page asks for some sort of main just basic information the next page once you're in and you've created a program these are all the sort of options you have you're going to the first thing you're going to do is this unemployment claim but as you can see you can update update your address you could talk about overpayments that you might have received a payment plan to address those overpayments a way to correspond with the Department of Labor so all of these things are options if you hit each one of them it will bring you to a screen that will help you address those issues and questions the next slide is it's important really if especially if you
are self-employed and you believe you may qualify eventually for the PUA if you are self-employed when they ask you for the state in which you've worked and I'm gonna ask Tori later to correct me if this is wrong but you should not feel out of state you should leave that blank fill in the rest of the information but leave that state blank and then as you can see the next slide is just further information about filing your claim exam if go back a second check that question which is important it relates to gig workers okay people who are independent contractors or may have been working in the gig industry the key word is worked okay that person did not work in a state okay so the correct answer is none your you came to the right answer but the way you get to that answer is because that person didn't work the person was a gig gig employee a gig in the gig industry may be a ubirr driver or maybe a part-time tutor or whatever but under traditionally under Missouri insurance law those people were never eligible for unemployment insurance and the federal programs have expanded the people who are eligible for pandemic benefits okay and that's way so when those people get a notice that they've been determined to be uninsured that's actually good news it's good news okay because that don't get them into the federal program automatically and then they'll be asked to supply something like a 1099 miscellaneous or their independent contractor work in 2019 if they earned more than $13,000 last year they're going to they should be receiving or get $600 a week okay if they earn less than $13,000 you math that they'll get is much more much less okay but I wanted to follow on what Jim was saying about that question because everyone really relates to the the gig people if if you're not a gig person and the correct answer if you worked here in Missouri then you need to put down your work in Missouri because otherwise you didn't work in Missouri then they'll kick out your form and give it to another state okay so gig workers should put no state but other people should put the state that they where they've worked that's correct if they actually had insurance should work okay sorry can you go one more slide forward okay so after you filed this claim and as I said we we only went through about three or four of those slides there are many more when in you go through those other on your own or with legal services assistant you're going to go through each slide and provide the information that they've asked for and when we post this later every slide will be up and shown when you file an unemployment insurance claim your prior employer will be notified and as I said they have it they will have a chance to protest your claim so if you quit or if you are fired for good cause they can contest your benefits otherwise you're gonna be filing your weekly request for payment on this you interact page you're going to report any earnings to the extent you're getting any part-time earnings during this time you're going to report what your search for work is entailed and that is going to be lessened during this time of the coronavirus you can also check on the status of your application if you are denied it will walk you through how to file your appeal so that is after you have filed your initial claim now we go to the next slide Tori so as I said if you have filed that initial claim and you are a PUA type worker and not a traditional unemployment insurance worker you are going to get a rejection and I showed you what that rejection looks like but you will also be told how to apply for a PUA claim and this is a new program so everyone is sort of learning it and navigating it but you will report your total weekly net earnings dating back at least two months before your employment was terminated or impacted you're gonna have some proof of employment I'm gonna interrupt for just a moment so that this PowerPoint sorry what was supposed to been removed is that you actually don't have to provide proof of employment for purposes of establishing eligibility for PUA it would just be you have to report your wages and then you can provide proof of wages if you want to increase the amount but otherwise in the state of Missouri if you don't provide actual documentation and support of your wages you'll just get the base amount of 133 and my apologies for that I used the wrong card when I had updated the PowerPoint to reflect that you actually don't have to provide proof of employment nor do you have to provide proof of business for self-employed workers the only documentation that you'll need to provide if you want to get more than the 133 is your proof of wages okay no I appreciate your and chiming in on that and Tory what about proof of business for self-employed I mean is that still accurate no my understanding is that the only documentation that you will need to provide is the proof of wages if you want to receive above the 133 you need to justify that your wages from entitle you to more than just the baseline amount of 133 and so it's really you just have to self-certify to one of the Kovac related reasons for your unemployment status or your loss of income and then proof of wages should you want to or should you believe that you deserve more than the 133 based on your past earnings okay okay thank you Tory okay maybe I could explain a little bit more yeah typically employees don't have to prove their wages even if you file for a regular unemployment insurance that's applied by the employer quarterly employers are required to file quarterly reports to the Division of Employment Security and pay a tax for for their insurance so that information should be available at the division of Employment Security through the social renumber all I have to do is cross Chris check so street number with the employer that they are saying they work for and employment securty already has it information so that's why you're not asking for that kind of proof okay tor do another next slide then so if you are invited to submit pu a claim this will be again you're going to be doing it through the you interactive website but this is for POA claims so again you're going to check on the unemployment claim go to the next slide you're gonna check the pandemic assistance PUA program go to the next slide you're going to file a PUA claim and this is all pretty self-explanatory you're gonna select the pandemic that caused you to file the claim and so this is pretty obvious you're going to select in this box and it's a pull down box the Cova 19 and emic and then the next slide you're going to check the reason that you have lost your position is your job or your employment and these are the these relate to the reasons that we / earlier then you or somebody in your household has been diagnosed you can read through all of those check the one that is most appropriate for you and then Tory maybe could you chime in on the next slide about this wage information is this still accurate or is it different sure so our understanding is that the printouts of the PTA application that we received you receive those about a week and a half two weeks ago and I know that the Missouri Department of Labor is actively updating this information as they received guidance from the US Department of Labor our understanding at this point from recent guidance that was issued early last week again and this goes back to my introduction before is that proof of employment it's not required documentation proving your employment it's not required for purposes of establishing eligibility for PUA so I do want to make a note that this application page here that we received from the Department of Labor may be outdated by this point and I'm confident that they're probably going to be updating this information to be consistent with the new US Department of Labor guidance so but folks should expect nevertheless to receive a page requesting that they submit wage information if they do not submit wage information at this point in the application process the Missouri Department of Labor labor pardon me um will determine their benefit amount based on the information that they self-certified to you so prior in the application they had to report their monthly earnings Department of Labor will use that information that they supply to determine their benefit amount so they don't need to necessarily provide wage information I do want to just as a point of caution so there is if I'm gonna back up for a moment so you have 21 days to submit proof of wages if you don't do it at this point if the information that you self-certified to put you above 133 and that I'm sorry um put you above the minimum amount of 133 for your weekly benefit amount and you do not supply proof of wages that are consistent with what you reported they will drop you back down to the 133 amount and you may be responsible for an overpayment it at any point while your claim is still active you do have an opportunity to submit wage information and if that supports a bump up and your weekly benefit amount you know that would happen and it would be retroactive as well so I encourage people that if you do have wage information available and to go ahead and submit that to the Missouri Department of Labor and if you can't do it at the application stage you can certainly do it through the UI and rap portal Thank You Jordan can you go to slide 29 so after filing the PUA claim after you've gone through this process and again this is one of these services we are offering as part of legal services response a notice will be sent to the claimant letting them know whether they are not eligible for PUA if you are eligible you will start receiving your benefit plus the $600 every week and as Toria was just talking about if you want if you can submit proof of wages within 21 days that might increase your amount you're eligible to do that you need to file a weekly request for your payment on you interact you need a report on that any earnings if you are working part-time and you also need to let them know if you are searching for work as as I said earlier if you cannot because the Parana virus you will probably not be required to if you are denied you will have 30 days to do to file an appeal on the P you and the peel process is exactly the same as it is for the unemployment insurance Tory or Stu would give anything to add to that last page of information No so the last slide is just sort of a wrap-up and it talks about again what legal services does who we are on the left you can see the map that while we a lot of our client bases in the st. Louis region we actually cover 21 counties throughout eastern Missouri all the way down to Washington County and all the way up to the Iowa border so please call if you are in our service area and need help with unemployment you can see how to help how to get in touch with us our phone number our website that has an online application and our this presentation will be posted on our Facebook page so Stuart I just wanted to sort of turn it over to you if you had anything to add or correct or change please feel free to do so I'm not going to correct anything you said framework because I've been doing representing claimants also employers for a long time on the system we have of unemployment insurance compensation and you have to kind of I've had to sort of rewire myself as to what the federal programs are all about as opposed to the state program for unemployment insurance it's it's very different the pandemic has really changed a lot of rules the key word that is missing from the federal programs which is an AA program is a word insurance the Panda pandemic benefits they're not insurance okay they are not insurance the pitcher against a risk they may occur to an employer employees who no fault of their own okay so typically is Jim mentioned typically unemployment insurance was covered when an employee lost their job through no fault of their own either it could be a voluntary quit or it could be misconduct okay those are the two ways that a person had to be eligible for benefits okay so the pandemic has turned it upside down we have hundreds of thousands of people millions of people throughout the country who were who had to shelter okay they had to take care of their children at home because the schools closed the employers had to let their workforce go okay so these were not voluntary quit they were not discharged from his conduct okay but the employee the worker couldn't go out there and look for other work they had to shelter at home okay if they couldn't get some kind of job you know online or work or online they didn't if they were not an essential employee if they were non-essential okay they had to stay at home maybe take care of their kids okay so and the employer was not paying into an insurance program that would cover a pandemic situation where they had to let go their workforce okay so the federal program is not insurance it's totally different from the state of the state program but the way it's it's administered it's administered through the division of Employment Security under the under agreement with the federal government all the money is coming from the federal government it's being administered by the state okay under totally different requirements for the state insurance program so you need to think of it as you have to first get through the insurance state insurance program to get into the federal program okay and the way that the UI interact website is set up actually I hope our online application process we've had it for a while and it's actually one of the best in the country okay I'm sure you've heard of news that other states the the websites have crashed and they can't get through to anybody online on a phone works example is probably Florida which had a in a lie you know website program that didn't work before the pandemic is even worse now okay less than a third of everybody who might be eligible for UI or pandemic benefits can you even get on get into the wipes website in Florida okay that's not the problem here in Missouri the the website has been literally almost every day updated to take care of pandemic benefits okay and I guess some kind of walk through the different windows okay they have on the phone of Labor's website they have lots of information as Jim mentioned they also have daily news releases that are really really good okay because their job really is to get out this federal money as quickly as possible okay so the website is as user friendly my younger son actually used it he loves computers he did faster than I could okay he did it in like in ten minutes made his application okay what I don't know is how quickly the state has been in getting the benefits into the bank accounts into people who eligible i think they'd been a little slow and i and i'll try to find out exactly how that's going but I think they've been a little slow in actually making payments okay and the B it's like to know how fast are they on that on that side of it okay so I'm trying to look at you know the problem is not in applications from what I've seen so far I think that the situation it's going to become more ambiguous as you move into unlocking the economy because Missouri has opened up the state he's opening up the state is where we're sitting down right now and so while a lot of employees are losing their jobs at the same time employers are calling back some of their workers okay so the question is you know what happens if a lot of the worker is getting benefits that exceed what they would excuse me getting receiving right now $600 a week turns out to be more than you're working they were earning at their employment okay that's one problem so what's the incentive that worker to go back to their employment if they would actually reduce the benefits they're getting okay that's that's a problem what if the workplace is unsafe you know what if the it's not an essential workforce there's no requirement they have protective equipment you know lots of small small businesses it can't afford to give every employee mass or six fee to be spacing different ventilation system whatever that's a car those are cost for business with small businesses in any business but especially small bu
iness this state of Missouri's position right now is that if an employer calls back their employee they have to go back to work or they will lose their benefits okay what if the place of business does not make the their working situation safe okay I think that's an issue that's going to be coming up quite a bit and we need to think about how we're going to deal with that legally and there's no clear answer okay so going forward I think that's where a lot of questions may come up but I don't want to sort of go into people's heads i'd rather get the Q&A and see what the people how they are thinking and maybe we can help them answer their questions absolutely all right um so giving you one moment here while I pull up some of the questions that we've been asked um during the live event um so if someone has received a notice of approval for PUA when should they expect to receive their key way and PUC benefits so I know in looking at the Missouri Department of Labor's website they indicate there at least that they're expecting to issue those payments within ten days of someone being determined as eligible for PUA benefits with regard to the PUC so that's the additional $600 that folks will receive a week that should be automatic so that will come along so the when as soon as you are determined eligible for keyway and you get that first key away payment your PUC payment should also be issued at that same time so my understanding is that there really shouldn't be much of a delay with that and then how will that happen um does it is that a direct deposit or do they receive a check in the mail um I know again from reviewing the Missouri Department of Labor's website and then in the limited experience that we've had in the system folks with applications it really is the claimants benefit if they do have a bank account and have direct deposit that you utilize that because those payments will be made directly to that account but if you do not what instead will happen is that the Missouri Department of Labor will issue you separate like debit card is kind of what it's most similar to and you'll receive that in the mail so there may be some delay in issuing that card and then you also have to take into account that card actually getting to you so the fastest way to receive your benefits would be through direct deposit as opposed to a card again we understand that some some folks do not have the bank account and that the card may be the only way that they can receive benefits but there may be some additional delay if that's the only option that may be available to you and then also there was a question if they are approved for PUA will the notice state huh how much money they should expect to receive each week so yes my understanding is that they have an obligation of notifying the claimant that they've been approved in and what amount is there anything additional that you all would like to add no other than I'm assuming that they could contest or appeal that amount if they think it's inaccurate through the appeal process we had another question about if someone files for UI but they know that they're probably PUA eligible how fast does the Missouri Department of May make that determination that they're an uninsured worker so that they can then open themselves out to go ahead and apply for PUA at least for myself what I can say from again limited experience is that in one individual that we helped apply for UI even though knowing that she would likely be PUA eligible he receives that notice of uninsured workers status I think it was in within a few days um so but again that's just from limited experience that's one one case but it does it if and I think just to go back Jen had covered a slide for the UI application and we had a discussion about if soft employer gig worker not identifying a state I think the benefit to that is any application UI application where folks haven't identified a state those may be going to a pool so that they can go ahead and process those and get them on the PUA track as fast as possible but unfortunately that's all the information that we have right now we do know that the Missouri Department of Labor is trying to process these as fast as possible but there's a large volume of things coming in right now um okay so I know just um generally speaking there have been questions that have come up before about whether or not if someone was now eligible for unemployment and receives that additional $600 federal supplement and they have an existing overpayment what can they still receive the benefits or what happens in light of off so having that overpayment well correct me if I'm wrong but I believe yes they are eligible for those payments it would be applied to that overpayment to spend that down unless that overpayment was due to fraud and if it was due to fraud in the original application or overpayment there wouldn't be eligible for the benefits at all Stuart is that accurate err yeah yeah there was a statute that covers that it used to be they even if there was fraud the only way that the division could recover an overpayment is through future benefits now it's limited to innocent overpayments as opposed to some type of fraud but as a practical matter the division is not going to file suit against people to try to recover a relatively small amount of money which may be uncollectible so normally they'll wait for the individual to make another claim and then recover the overpayments that way I think the I think the question though is that if there is an overpayment under UI whether the and the claim is receiving pandemic benefits whether the state can recover its overpayment through the federal monies and I think maybe some people are thinking about that and that's an interesting question it's been asked of me by by other people and it hasn't come up yet but my thinking is that there's a different pot of money so the state has no authority to recoup an overpayment from the state benefits through the federal benefits I don't think they can do that they try to do that I think it's something that is is contestable either way it sounds like that should not prevent them from applying ouais to apply absolutely absolutely I know another question that has often come up and doing this line of work is whether or not and and Jim you briefly went over this in your presentation but I think it's also worth repeating but whether or not there is a search requirement if someone has been laid off due to covet 19 did you say a word search for work requirement for new work yes if someone has specifically been laid off because of clove at 19 well during this isolation phase I do not think workers are required to go out and search for employment especially has their different issues okay separation from work is one issue okay so in this situation the separation work has nothing to do with whether the employee quit or was discharged misconduct they were they were laid off because of the pandemic and the shutdown those reasons they have to stay home okay and that's where they why they lost their jobs now to get benefits benefits are awarded weekly so there's a weekly requirement once you're eligible you have to stay eligible weekly and make claim each week to show that you're actively and earnestly looking for other work which is a different requirement that's why you got to go on the website each week and show that you're looking for work okay so that obligation that legal requirement which used to be you know you had to you couldn't refuse a job you had to look make at least three contacts a week you had to you got referrals from job service and those kinds of things those those requirements have been relaxed by the federal program though they still exist okay there's still requirement that the claimant can't sit home and do nothing and collects a set of dollars a week okay you still have a duty to be out there looking for work okay but the requirement that you do that is very relaxed with regard to the federal programs okay but it's not it's not gone it's still there okay I'm sorry parents don't move well I think we're one minute away from four o'clock at this point so I think we're going to tie things up but I do encourage I encourage everybody that changing today to look we're gonna be posting these slides to our Facebook page so I encourage you to look at those slides again and then if you all have any specific questions for us you can't apply for assistance with legal services and if you qualify that would be great you can call our intake line at three one four five three four forty two hundred or you can complete an online application through our website LSE org but I wanted to extend a huge thank you to our two presenters and you guys have done a fantastic job and it's no small feat putting this together so we really do appreciate both of you thank you thank you
