In accordance with the Reemployment Plan and the announcement that it will no longer participate in federal unemployment insurance (UI) programs enacted by the CARES Act and the American Rescue Plan Act, the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) will restore many of the eligibility requirements during the recent pandemic waived. The last week payable for Pandemic Unemployment Aid (PUA), Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Benefit (PEUC), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefit (FPUC), and Mixed Earning Unemployment Benefit (MEUC) ends on June 26, 2021 with additional requirements on June 27 to be reintroduced for applicants and employers.
Previously suspended eligibility rules related to pandemics require applicants to be fit, ready to work, and actively seeking work. These requirements will become mandatory again for UI applicants from June 27th. For each week that benefit payments are requested, beneficiaries must be able to work, available and actively seeking employment. Individuals applying for unemployment benefits must register with the labor administration in their country of residence to avoid interruptions, delays or denials of benefits if they are eligible. Georgia residents must register with EmployGeorgia, the state’s reemployment system, and provide their Social Security number when registering. Individuals are asked to create a searchable résumé or upload a searchable résumé to the website and submit three job search contacts for each requested week.
“States across the country are resetting job search mandates as emergency rules are lifted and companies are open to the public again,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “We adjusted many of our regulations during the pandemic to make it easier to obtain benefits during the crisis and now those changes are no longer necessary.”
The previously adjusted Income Neglect rule, which allowed earnings up to $ 300 per week not to be factored in when calculating the weekly benefit amount, is reduced to $ 150 per week. This means that reported earnings greater than $ 150 for dollar will be deducted from the weekly entitlement amount.
For more information about these requirements and how to meet them, those entitled to the
unemployment
Policyholder Handbook
.
From June 27, 2021, employers will also experience changes to the performance survey and the applications submitted by the employer. During the pandemic, contributory employers were exempted from unemployment benefit payments for claims submitted for those who were unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19. With effect from June 27th, 2021, the relief for the collection of unemployment benefits ends regardless of the reason for unemployment. Unemployment benefit paid for weeks ending on or after June 27, 2021 will be billed to the last employer in accordance with Section OCGA 34-8-43.
The partial claims (rule 300-2-4.09) will be resumed with effect from June 27, 2021. Employers are only allowed to submit six (6) consecutive weeks of partial claims with no income. Individuals who are unemployed for more than six (6) consecutive weeks will be considered separate and subsequent claims will not be processed or paid. In such cases, employers are encouraged to convert partial entitlements into individual-submitted entitlements so that individuals can claim their own weekly benefits and report gross earnings if they are employed.
Employers are asked to report job refusals online for employees who refuse to report, return to work, or decline a job offer with Report UI Fraud & Abuse.
“We are focused on supporting our job seekers and employers during this adjustment period and restoring many of the pre-pandemic requirements will certainly aid that effort,” said Commissioner Butler. “Right now we are not seeing the number of layoffs and temporary closings that we saw last year when many of these temporary rules were put in place, but we will continue to monitor the labor market and make any changes necessary to get Georgians back into work Workplace.”
Today the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) announced that it has processed 4,875,243 regular unemployment insurance (UI) applications as of March 21, 2020, more than the combined 10 years prior to the pandemic (4.8 million).
To date, over 238,000 Georgian jobs are available on EmployGeorgia. Employ Georgia uses artificial intelligence to match a person’s skills with potential jobs. Applicants will have access to job vacancies, assistance with uploading up to five searchable résumés, job search assistance, career counseling, qualification tests, information on job boards, vocational training services, and accessibility and special accommodation for people with disabilities and veterans returning to work.
Applicants are encouraged to register with Employ Georgia before the weekly job search becomes mandatory on June 27th to avoid disruptions in their payments. Video tutorials on registering and using EmployGeorgia are available at Employmentgeorgia.com.
GDOL has paid over $ 22 billion in state and federal benefits over the past 63 weeks. Last week, the GDOL has benefits totaling nearly 154 million and state extended benefits.
Last week, regular initial UI requests were 22,240, down from 2,382 over the week. Initial claims are defined as any unemployment report submitted in order to apply for determination of entitlement or entitlement to unemployment benefit OR to begin a second or subsequent entitlement period within a benefit year. The number of initial applications is not directly related to layoffs. In addition, the agency currently has 177,206 active PUA claims.
The agency’s website at dol.georgia.gov provides resources for reintegration assistance, information on how to submit an unemployment claim and details on how employers can submit partial claims.
For more information on jobs and current workforce data, see the Georgia Labor Force Market Explorer at explorer.gdol.ga.gov for a comprehensive report.
For more information on these requirements and how to meet them, see the
unemployment
Policyholder Handbook
.
