Unemployment rules need more flexibility
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By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: December 16, 2009
SPRINGFIELD – Windsor County legislators said Tuesday state unemployment regulations should be more flexible to allow Vermonters to work additional part-time hours before losing unemployment benefits.
Right now there is a "cliff" facing unemployed workers, who can only earn about $120 a week before they lose all of their benefits.
Christian Craig, executive director of the Edgar May Recreation and Health Center in Springfield, said he was having trouble hiring part-time workers because people told him they would lose their unemployment benefits.
Vermont benefits are capped at $425 a week. A move to increase the weekly benefit to $437 was postponed because the state's fund is close to depleted as the state's unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent.
The global economic crisis has helped deplete Vermont's unemployment trust fund, which will hit empty at the end of December, several legislators said.
Vermont will then borrow money from the federal government to pay its unemployment claims, according to Sen. Alice Nitka, D-Windsor. Nitka said Vermont may borrow the money interest-free for a year, and she said U.S. Rep. Peter F. Welch, D-Vt., was working on the issue as well.
Nitka said some employers are abusing the system on the classification of jobs, resulting in underpayment of insurance premiums.
One of the big problems in the unemployment insurance fund is that employers have been paying premiums based on 1983 salaries, said Rep. Ernest Shand, D-Weathersfield.
Shand said employers are paying unemployment insurance payments based on a median income of $8,000, which was true in the early 1980s, but is no longer accurate.
About a half-dozen legislators gathered early Tuesday morning at Apron Strings Café in downtown Springfield to discuss issues, a forum sponsored by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Only one resident showed up.
Sen. Richard McCormack, D-Windsor, said he was sure that there were unemployed workers who knew how to "game the system," but he said the system should be more flexible.
McCormack, quoting former President Richard Nixon, said unemployment benefits "should never decrease … the more you work."
Shand said instead of a cliff, there should be a "slope," so people could work part time and still collect unemployment insurance benefits.
Legislators also discussed the need for transitional housing for people being released from state prison.
Turning Point is building a transitional home on Pearl Street, and while permits have already been obtained, neighbors have filed objections.
Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, chairman of the House Institutions Committee, said 150 prisoners were still in prison at a cost of $50,000 a year because of lack of transitional housing.
Patty Chaffee, executive director of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said too many people believe many of the prisoners let go from the 350-inmate state prison in Springfield are released into the town.
The town's original agreement with the state on accepting the new prison forbids people with no prior connection to Springfield from being released in the town.
But Chaffee said people assume "everybody is dumped to Springfield … they open the door and say, 'Good Luck.'"
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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