About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


1 [1] (March 6, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govcanz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: FF. ' riE S-' $. h ,,, , March 6, 2020 COVID-19: Social Insurance and Other Income-Support Options for Those Unable to Work There is uncertainty about how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) may spread in the United States; what measures federal, state, or local governments may take to mitigate the spread; and the possible effect on individual income security from both. This product provides an overview of existing federal and state government social insurance programs or options that may be implemented relatively quickly to provide financial assistance for those unable to work due to COVID-19 from (1) their own illness; (2) exposure leading to quarantine; (3) illness of a close family member or school closures that may require long-term caregiving; or (4) unemployment resulting from business closures. The joint federal-state Unemployment Compensation (UC) program provides income support through UC benefit payments. Although there are broad requirements under federal law regarding UC benefits and financing, the specifics are set out under each state's laws. States administer state-funded UC benefits with U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) oversight, resulting in 53 different UC programs operated in the states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. To receive UC benefits, claimants must generally have been laid off through no fault of their own; have enough recent earnings (distributed over a specified period) to meet their state's earnings requirements; and be able, available, and actively searching for work. The UC program generally does not provide UC benefits to the self-employed, those who are unable or unavailable to work, or those who do not have a recent earnings history. Individuals who are laid off for reasons related to COVID-19 would be subject to UC laws regarding benefit eligibility in the state where the previous work was performed. Individuals who are unavailable for work due to COVID-19 (e.g., because of a quarantine, or caregiving for sick or quarantined family members) may not meet state requirements regarding being able and available for work. Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) provides federally funded unemployment benefits to individuals who are unable to work as a result of a federally declared disaster and are otherwise ineligible for regular UC benefits; however, the current statutory definition of major disaster (42 U.S.C. § 512212]) for the purposes of DUA does not include a disease outbreak. Thus, DUA will not be available under current law in response to COVID- 19. Unlike some federal or state programs, UC and DUA have the ability to rapidly respond and provide immediate income support. Thus, Congress may consider amending or expanding current unemployment benefits for individuals unemployed due to COVID- 19. For example, the DUA authority could be a model for responding to public health emergencies. More generally, in response to the 2007-2009 recession, UC benefits were temporarily augmented and extended, with some costs temporarily assumed by the federal government. Every state has a workers' compensation system that provides wage-replacement and medical benefits to persons who are injured, become ill, or die in the course of employment. There is no federal requirement that states have workers' compensation systems and no federal oversight of state workers' compensation systems. The federal government administers workers' compensation for federal employees under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) and for longshore and harbor workers and several other groups of private-sector employees, such as overseas federal contractors, under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA). While the state programs and the FECA and LHWCA programs share similar features, each program operates under its own laws and regulations. However, nearly all private-sector workers in the United States are covered by some form of workers' compensation. Coverage of self- employed individuals and certain other classes of workers varies by program. The diffuse nature of workers' compensation makes it difficult to provide general information on how any given program would respond to cases of workers contracting COVID-19 in the workplace. A worker who contracts COVID-19 as a direct result of his or her job, such as a healthcare worker who contracts COVID- 19 after treating a patient, would likely be covered by workers' compensation and eligible for benefits. However, a person who contracts COVID- 19 through casual contact with a coworker or other person that happens to occur in the workplace may not be covered, as it could be argued that the risk of this person being exposed to COVID-19 was not related to, or peculiar to, the individual's job. Ultimately, such compensation decisions would have to be made by the specific workers' compensation programs and may vary across programs. Workers' compensation would not generally be expected to provide any benefits to a person who is unable to work because of a quarantine order unrelated to his or her employment. p\w -- , gn'a', goo mppm qq\ a , q 'S I 11LIANJILiN,