Many Jobless Receive No Unemployment Benefits

Legal Services NYC Executive Director Andrew Scherer is quoted in an April 9th USA Today article that focuses on the obstacles many Americans are encountering in trying to obtain Unemployment Insurance benefits.

Some people who are eligible are also running
out of benefits before finding work. Benefits have been expanded in a
number of states, but with the unemployment rate the highest in more
than a quarter-century, workers are taking longer to find jobs, at
times exhausting their eligibility. The NELP predicts more than 1.3
million people will run out of unemployment benefits during the first
half of the year.

In March, the average length of unemployment was
20.1 weeks, up four weeks from a year earlier. Nearly 3.2 million had
been jobless for at least 27 weeks, vs. 1.3 million a year earlier.

Legal aid groups are also reporting an increase
in the number of employers contesting a former worker's claim for
unemployment benefits. Because a company's future tax liability for the
unemployment program is based on how many former employees have
collected, it is in a firm's best interest to limit the number of those
drawing benefits.

Andrew Scherer, executive director of Legal
Services NYC, a non-profit group that provides free legal assistance in
New York City, says his organization is seeing "explosive growth" in
contested unemployment insurance cases as employers claim workers were
fired because of performance. "We are seeing more overblown reaction to
what otherwise might have been a minor infraction of work rules," he
said.

When claims are contested, unemployment checks
are delayed. That can lead to a number of issues, including possible
eviction as families get behind on their rent and mortgage payments.
That can put a strain on family relationships. Scherer says his
organization is seeing an increase in domestic violence cases.

Read the rest of the USA Today article by clicking here.