New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Colin A. Young
State House News Service
Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday evening signed into law a suite of unemployment insurance relief measures that are aimed at helping employers and claimants during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill signed into law (S 2618) includes an expansion of the maximum allowable claims period from 26 weeks to 30 weeks for any week in which claims exceed 100,000; a provision exempting employers’ experience ratings from impacts of COVID-19 and the current state of emergency; and lifts a cap on dependency benefits that currently stands at 50 percent. The legislation bounced between the House and Senate in different versions since April and lawmakers got it to Baker’s desk last week before Memorial Day weekend.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr last week said the bill includes “a number of important tools … to help not only the integrity of the unemployment insurance system but also to help those who are dependent upon it, and for whom so many have become dependent as a result.”
The state’s unemployment rate surged to 15.1% in April as the state lost 623,000 jobs. Since March 15, Massachusetts labor officials have received more than 1.23 million new claims for traditional unemployment insurance or the expanded eligibility Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.
alot of people are still waiting to be paid im missing well pending three weeks of payment
We are all suffering badly, Governor Baker why did you wait so long to accept the LWA money. Your gambling with our lives. Most of us are hungry and can’t buy food or pay rent and /or monthly bills. Sept 15 is an eternity for us and you have not told us it actually will happen by then. Please be a leader not a bystander.