PHOENIX — State lawmakers are moving to force people getting unemployment insurance checks back to work by changing the law about what jobs they have to take or forego the payments.
Under current law, someone collecting benefits must accept “suitable” work. But various factors are taken into consideration, including the “risk involved to the individual’s health, safety and morals.”
Other considerations include physical fitness for the work, experience, prior earnings and how long the person has been unemployed. And DES also has to figure in the prospects of the person being able to secure local work in the individual’s customary occupation as well as the distance to the new job.
Under SB 1398, however, all that would become legally irrelevant after someone has been collecting benefits for four weeks. At that point the person would have to take a job — any job — where the employer is offering to pay someone at least 20 percent more than they are collecting in benefits.
And that’s not much.
Under Arizona law, individuals who are laid off or fired through no fault of their own are entitled to collect payments equal to one-half of what they were earning for up to 26 weeks. The money comes out of a special fund financed by premiums paid by employers.
But here’s the thing: Arizona law limits benefits to $240 a week, no matter how much the person was earning. Only Mississippi has a lower cap.
And that means someone would have to take any work that pays at least $288 a week.
Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, the sponsor of the legislation, acknowledged that translates to $7.20 an hour, less than the current minimum wage of $10.50. And he said no one is expected to work for less than the minimum.
But it still leaves open the possibility someone could be forced to take part-time work of 28 hours a week or more at the minimum wage, no matter how much they were earning before they were let go, or end up with no benefits at all.
Smith’s bill does have a carrot.
It would require DES to set up a return-to-work program where those collecting unemployment insurance could become an apprentice or intern at certain companies for up to six weeks. The sweetener is they could continue to collect their weekly checks.
And Smith said companies would benefit, too.
“They can effectively recruit new people to come in and work,” he said, with the money for paying the workers coming from from the Federal Workforce Opportunity Act.
But it is the bill’s language that is causing the most heartburn among foes.
Rep. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, said it forces those getting benefits into a difficult situation by making factors like risks to safety and health irrelevant. Those are relevant questions and are the reason the law is worded the way it is now, Epstein said.
“I think the state should not be forcing people off the crutch (of jobless benefits) and into a much worse situation,” Epstein said.
Smith said there’s a simple solution to avoid being offered unsuitable work: Don’t apply for such jobs in the first place. If there’s no offer on the table, he said, someone collecting benefits can’t be accused of refusing to take it.
But it’s not that simple.
DES lobbyist Kathy Ber pointed out existing Arizona law requires those on unemployment insurance to engage in “a systematic and sustained effort to obtain work during at least four days of the week.” That same law mandates the person make at least one job contact per day on each of those four days.
Smith was unsympathetic to the possibility that someone who has been collecting benefits for at least four weeks could be forced to take a job that, until now, DES has considered unsuitable.
“You’re supposed to go out and look for a job,” he said, with the benefits simply to provide a financial bridge while people are doing that.
“We shouldn’t say, ‘Pretty please, here’s a job, would you please take it?’” Smith continued. “If you’re offered a job that pays you more than your benefit, you should take it.”
That also is the attitude of Rep. Jeff Weninger, R-Chandler, part-owner of a firm that runs Dilly’s Deli, which has several sandwich shops.
Like all employers, Weninger pays into the account that funds unemployment benefits. Premiums range from less than 1 percent of the worker’s first $7,000 of wages to nearly 13 percent, with the actual rate dependent on how often a company lays off or fires a worker without cause.
Weninger said he has close to 100 employees.
“I’ve paid a ton of money into this,” he said, blasting “this notion that the government or employers or everybody has to take care of someone cradle to the grave.”
If SB 1398 becomes law, it would have no immediate impact on how much employers pay. But DES officials said if fewer people overall are collecting, that leaves more money in the special account that finances the benefits, opening the door for future rate decreases.
That account was depleted during the recession when the state’s jobless rate topped 11 percent, with DES having to borrow money from the federal government. The unemployment rate is now 4.8 percent. And DES reports that the fund hit nearly $571.6 million this past June 30, up from $332.7 million a year earlier.
