GREAT NEWS! Trump Admin Says Employees Who Refuse An Offer To Return To Work Will No Longer Be Eligible For Unemployment Benefits
Across the United States, certain states and counties are starting to open back up from their extended coronavirus lockdowns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin believes business around the country will begin to bounce back, as the economic downturn wasn’t caused by a sudden lack of funds or due to the collapse of an industry, but because the economy was literally forced by the government to shut down.
During the economic shutdown, unemployment filings have shot up across the country to numbers not seen since the Great Depression. Many states are struggling to meet the needs of the people while the federal government is doing what it can to provide some financial assistance.
With the increase in unemployment benefits offered by the federal government, the federal budget deficit has reached its highest level ever. To help protect small businesses, the federal government released its Payroll Protection Program, or PPP. However, this program, as well as the heightened unemployment benefits, were designed to assist Americans in getting through the COVID-19 economic shutdown, not to act as a permanent form of financial support.
As businesses begin to open, they will need to request their employees to return to work. Most employees will likely accept the requests. However, due to the serious bump in unemployment benefits, there are those who may do what they can to remain on unemployment. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has instructed companies that are receiving benefits via PPP to notify their state unemployment offices of their offers to employees to return to work. If an employee is offered their job and they turn it down, they will not be eligible for unemployment.
Many Republican lawmakers have worried about the desire of some employees to remain on unemployment due to the increase in benefits. Some employees may be bringing in more money via unemployment than they were while on the job. Due to this, Republicans have wanted to place strict regulations on unemployment benefits going forward to make sure individuals do not take further advantage of the situation if they have been offered their job back.
The average state currently gives out $463 per week for unemployment. This is on top of the $600 a week the federal government is now paying, which averages out to over $4,200 a month in unemployment (or over $55,000 annually). In order to obtain unemployment benefits, individuals have always been required to show they are actively seeking work. If they turn down a job offer from their employer, they will be going against this mandate, which will rule them ineligible to collect more benefits.
Democrats, on the other hand, want to extend state and federal benefits until the beginning of 2021. Should this happen, many will likely attempt to continue living off the taxpayer and avoid returning to work.
There is a serious budget crisis looming at the state and federal level, with neither form of government financially capable of supporting individuals who refuse to work for this extended amount of time.
Steeve Strange is the CEO and Co-Founder of The Scoop. Follow Steeve on Twitter @TheScoopSteeve, on Instagram @TheScoopSteeve, and on Facebook @TheScoopSteeve.
