Claims And Issues

FLORIDA FAILS IN UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CLASS.

          Florida lawmakers are against unemployment insurance.  They do not want to pay unemployment insurance benefits at all.  But if they have to pay unemployment insurance  benefits, they prefer to kick the can down the road, so to speak, until another fiscal year.

          On October 15, 2013, persons who applied for unemployment benefits in Florida became required to apply online at a site built by the State.

          On October 15, 2013, unemployment insurance mostly became unavailable to Floridians.  On that date, Florida unemployment claims dropped sharply.

          Since October 15, 2013, unemployment insurance has changed in Florida.  As a result of the Florida website fiasco, the State of Florida has paid a lot fewer benefits to unemployed Floridians from then until now.  The fiasco is continuing even as we speak.

          So, the State paid a lot less money in the Fourth Quarter of 2013, which on a calendar-year basis began in October coincidentally.  That shifts any further unemployment benefit payments to later Quarters, if at all.

          Which is what the Florida lawmakers who oppose paying unemployment insurance benefits to unemployed Floridians pretty clearly wanted.

          This story is outlined in reporting by Lizette Alavarez, "Florida's Site Said to Delay Millions in Aid to Jobless" p. A11, col. 5 (New York Times Nat'l ed., Saturday, January 11, 2014).

© 2014 by Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.  No claim to original U.S. Government works.

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Your Own Private Unemployment Insurance?

    Interesting concepts of private unemployment Insurance are explored by Ron Lieber, "Your Money/Insure Yourself Against a Job Loss?  Good Luck" p. B1, col. 1 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "Business Day" Section, Saturday, August 7, 2009), for reasons know to the newspaper, published online with a different headlline:  "Good Luck Getting Private Insurance For Unemployment".

    One type of private unemployment Insurance that might be offered in the United States, it is suggested, is "paycheck replacement coverage" for people who have lost their jobs involuntarily, i.e., who have been fired or laid off.

    Another is "salary gap insurance" for people who have found jobs but at a reduced rate of pay.

    One or both of these concepts is selling in other countries, with mixed records of success, but neither concept reportedly has caught on in this country, before now anyway.

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