New York’s Flawed Partial Unemployment Insurance Program Disproportionately Harms Women and Persons of Color and Threatens Economic Recovery
Coalition Calls of Passage of Legislation introduced by Assemblymember Stirpe & State Senator Ramos (A446/S5754) to fix the system and strengthen the economy.
NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With COVID-19 infections on the rise, a sluggish economic rebound, and critical provisions in the CARES Act set to expire in just two weeks, a coalition of leading advocacy groups and nonprofits including Robin Hood, the National Employment Law Project, and the Empire Justice Center today called on the New York State Legislature to avert stifling the state’s economic recovery and mitigate rising hardship for nearly half a million workers by passing legislation to fix New York’s flawed unemployment insurance (UI) program before year's end or immediately upon reconvening in January. While most states encourage part-time re-employment, New York reduces benefits based on the number of days worked, rather than on earnings from part-time work. As a result, workers who return to work for even a few hours a week risk losing their UI benefits – effectually discouraging workers, mostly low-wage workers and persons of color, from seeking part time employment.
“As a result of COVID-19, nearly three million New Yorkers have lost work or reduced their hours. But to add insult to injury, these workers have had to contend with an unemployment system that not only provides lower benefits than neighboring states but also punishes them for seeking part-time work to make ends meet,” said Jason Cone, Chief Public Policy Officer, Robin Hood. “Amid rising COVID-19 cases, workers are struggling to stay afloat, and they deserve an unemployment system that serves as a lifeline, not an anchor. New Yorkers should not be forced to choose between financial security and employment prospects. This partial UI rule hurts families, damages the economy, and undermines the state’s recovery. State legislators must use their new supermajority to act quickly and decisively to do what states like New Jersey and Connecticut have already done and create a modern unemployment system.”
In November, 2.3 million New Yorkers were collecting unemployment – a disproportionate share of them women and persons of color. And as businesses had to limit their hours, another 380,000 were forced into part-time work. Among those unemployed, 23% of benefit weeks were paid to those working part-time because of slack demand, up from 10% a year ago. Unfortunately, New York’s archaic UI system has failed to support this growing share of predominantly low wage workers, disincentivizing part-time employment by reducing workers’ weekly UI benefits by 25% for each day of work. For example, a worker making $15 an hour and working 12 hours per week over three days would receive a partial UI benefit of $75, meaning she would earn less by working part time ($255) than she receives in UI benefits ($300).
“Thousands of New Yorkers are having their unemployment benefits slashed or taken away entirely as a result of the state’s worst-in-the-nation partial unemployment insurance rules. Even Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has taken action to help part-time workers access adequate unemployment benefits. It is urgent that New York’s legislature make this long overdue fix immediately to help jobless New Yorkers weather the remaining months of the crisis,” said Paul Sonn, state policy program director, National Employment Law Project.
"The need to fix New York’s unfair partial unemployment benefits system is overwhelmingly urgent. The COVID-19 pandemic has only shone a spotlight on the magnitude of the problem. Currently, thousands of workers who return to part-time work risk losing most or all of their Unemployment Benefits, even when they are making just a tiny fraction of their old earnings. New Yorkers who are doing all they can to stay afloat shouldn’t be penalized for trying to make ends meet,” said Kristin Brown, the President and CEO of Empire Justice Center, a legal services and advocacy organization for low-income people in New York state.
"New York has the worst system for partial unemployment insurance benefits in the country. Rather than encouraging workers to seek available employments opportunities, it penalizes part-time work, especially for low-wage workers, when they obtain part-time work. This outdated and unfair system needs to be changed, especially as so many workers struggle during this pandemic,” said Young Woo Lee, Director of the Employment Law Unit of the Legal Aid Society.
Legislation introduced by Assemblymember Albert A. Stirpe Jr. and State Senator Jessica Ramos (A446/S5754) would fix the system by eliminating the per-day work penalty and ensure workers are not punished for taking part-time work. Not only will this enable workers to increase their total income but maintain their job skills and attachment to the labor market, strengthening our economic recovery.
Supporters of partial UI reform include:
• Catholic Migration Services
• National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA/NY)
• The New York Taxi Workers Alliance
• National Center for Law and Economic Justice
• Make the Road New York
• Brooklyn Defender Services
• National Employment Law Project (NELP)
• The Empire Justice Center
• The Legal Aid Society
About Robin Hood
Founded in 1988, Robin Hood finds, fuels, and creates the most impactful and scalable solutions lifting families out of poverty in New York City, with models that can work across the country. This year, Robin Hood will invest nearly $200 million to provide COVID relief, legal services, housing, meals, workforce development training, education programs and more to families in poverty in New York City. Robin Hood tracks every program with rigorous metrics, and since Robin Hood’s Board of Directors covers all overhead, 100 percent of every donation goes directly to the poverty fight. Learn more at robinhood.org.
Contact: press@robinhood.org