AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill aimed to fight unemployment fraud and tighten eligibility for benefits was approved by the Legislature’s Labor Committee this week, but the legislation likely faces fights on the House and Senate floors.
LD 1725, sponsored by Sen. Chris Rector, R-Thomaston, would make a number of changes to how the state distributes benefits for those who are unemployed.
As more and more people are making claims for unemployment, the bill attempts to crack down on the potential for fraudulent claims, decreases the amount of time someone can receive benefits while looking for a job that fits their comparable skill and wage and eliminates a provision that allows recipients to collect benefits while they are receiving any unused vacation pay.
Rector said if people are collecting back vacation pay and unemployment, they are getting two paychecks when some are getting none. He said the other piece urges unemployed workers to look outside their respective fields in a shorter period of time in order to help them find a job.
“The longer you are out of work, the more challenging it is to find work,” he said. “So, even if it’s not the ideal job for you, we want people to be trying.”
The bill passed along strict party lines in the Labor Committee, setting the stage for debate when it’s up for votes in the House and Senate.
The minority report from Democrats on the committee would retain existing law surrounding workers’ earned vacation pay and maintain 12 weeks as the amount of time a worker has to search for employment at his or her prior wage level.
“It’s hard to understand why the Legislature is focused on making it harder for workers to get this type of support during the worst economic climate since the Great Depression,” said Robyn Merrill of Maine Equal Justice Partners. “We all know that Maine people searching for jobs are already having a tough time finding work. Why would we want to make unemployed workers take jobs they’re not suited for instead of utilizing their skills for the benefit of themselves and the economy?”
Although Rector sponsored the bill, it originated from the governor’s office. Gov. Paul LePage has pledged to stamp out fraud in a variety of areas during his administration, including in unemployment benefits.
But U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that Maine has the lowest unemployment fraud rate in New England and the fifth lowest in the country.
“Fraud is not a big issue, but inasmuch as it exists, we want to eliminate it,” Rector said.
The Maine Working Families Coalition, a broad group of nonprofits and advocacy organizations, has opposed LD 1725 on the basis that it would roll back jobless benefits to those in need.
“With so many Maine people struggling to make ends meet in the worst recession since the Great Depression, we should be working together to find ways to create jobs — not to punish those who have lost theirs,” said Laura Harper of the Maine Women’s Lobby.
Added Matt Schlobohm, director of the Maine AFL-CIO: “Workers shouldn’t be penalized by having their unemployment insurance delayed just because they had earned vacation time on the books when they were laid off.”
{ Rector said if people are collecting back vacation pay and unemployment, they are getting two paychecks when some are getting none}
That just isin’t true!
Vacation pay is an earned Benefit that was for past labor, by working up to the day of taking.
If the worker hadn’t taken the vacation he is being penalised >
The worker who had taken it would be recieving both the Vacation Pay and the Unemployment !
This is a scam !
These workers are being cheated!
Its no wonder that they call it an Unemployement —Fraud —Bill!
Dlbrt, every time someone gets busted for this type of fraud, you just complain about others, or fairness. Just admit it is wrong, and two wrongs don’t make a right. You sound like you are picking up for these people because you are doing the same thing.
I do that now. I am skipping taking vacations at work AND IT IS NOT EASY, so if i become unemployed, i can use that extra effort of money to get by. But A. Rector of R-Thomaston sees it as a way to take my money.
the biggest fraud in the state is LaPage.
” LD 1725,
sponsored by Sen. Chris Rector, R-Thomaston, would make a number of
changes to how the state distributes benefits for those who are
unemployed.,,Rector said if people are collecting back vacation pay and unemployment
— I have been a Republican for decades but i am getting fed up with the bozos.
So, if i am working and make an extra effort not to take vacations ‘when i could’, because i want to save up the extra money in the event i am laid off, the State will deduct that extra pay. But my coworker who may took vacations, will not have money deducted.
Hey Rector, how about looking up rectors of the unemployed to see if they are hiding money there
This is not a bill attacking fraud — it is a bill design to attack people at one of their most vulnerable times to the benefit of business.
How can Mr Rector claim that receiving your vacation pay while receiving unemployment is getting two pay checks ? I work in an industry that is very prone to lay offs. I attempt to save my vacation time as additional savings in case I do get laid off. The unemployment I would be eligible for would be a third of my current take home pay. If I was laid off for an extend period I would be in danger of losing my home and my car. My vacation pay along with my investments and savings would allow me to hang on to what I have worked so hard to accumulate hopefully until I was rehired.
And the Republicans now want to sponsor a bill that would force me to take a minimum pay job that would give me a check that would be less than my unemployment. These people must be foreclosure lawyers and loan sharks.
Perhaps these legislators need to try being unemployed for an extended period of time and attempt to make ends meet with their unemployment check. People who are unemployed do not chose to be unemployed. Generally their employer just can not sustain the payroll any long and has to lay them off.
Since when has our society decided to attack the poor, the old and the unemployed. Oh yeah it is tea time.
The legislators are looking for any trick to get people off unemployment benefits. They surely don’t care if people become homeless or go hungry or even die. To the legislators, every time they move people off unemployment, it makes the statistics look good. At election time they’ll be out praising themselves for getting people back to work. The fact that people are making non living wages won’t bother legislators in the least.
“Workers shouldn’t be penalized by having their unemployment insurance
delayed just because they had earned vacation time on the books when
they were laid off.”
Seems to me this is already the case. When I got laid off at the mill I had 2 weeks vacation time and half a dozen sick/personal days accrued for which they paid me when I got laid off. Those payments were deducted from my unemployment benefits by withholding several weeks of benefits before they started paying me. So what is it they’re going to do different?
Maine has the 5th lowest unemployment fraud rate in the Nation and our tea party republican Governor and his followers in the legislature are embarking on another of their now famous witch hunts against an almost non existent problem. Maybe if the Governor and his followers would pay more attention to the real problems in The State of Maine instead of trying to legislate against problems that don’t or hardly exist Maine would be a better place. Our roads and bridges are in horrible shape, our dams haven’t been inspected in accordance with State law, jobs are disappearing from our State like water going through a sieve and the level of management at DHHS is so bad that to call it incompetent would be considered praise. It is time for the Maine Legislature and Paul Richard LePage to start doing the job that Mainers elected them to do instead of bowing to the wishes of The Grand Wizard and his clan of highly paid political operatives at the Maine Heritage Policy Center.
This bill is not curbing fraud in this Fraud and ID obsessed session.
“The longer you are out of work, the more challenging it is to find work,” he said. “So, even if it’s not the ideal job for you, we want people to be trying.”
First Rector needs to check his Rector stats to see that the current unemployment rate is 7% and I doubt it is going to get any lower.
Secondly you have a Governor that this idea spawned from who took money to create jobs, therefore that is a sign that jobs are not plentiful in this state and I think the 7% will confirm that. His presentation is fraud, the reality is to screw the little guy over
Third. The above quote to find a job not ideal for you, isn’t it ironic that the unemployment law states if you get a job that does not fit your skill set and you quit the job, your benefits can be reinstated? So essentially with no good retraining they want to shove everyone back to a job even if it does not match your skill set, oh wait, a lot of employers won’t hire if you don’t have the skill set…..
Point made, screw with the little guys. The goal of this legislation and LePage.
I work. I have vacation time. I could use it last summer,last fall,now,next week,next summer BUT I AM NOT taking my vacation time so ‘in the event’ i lose my job, i can use that HARD EARN MONEY I AM ENTITLED TOO with unemployment money I AM ENTITLED TOO. I earn both.
Vacation time pay is NOT entitlement pay. It is work pay, its earned. It was earned before someone went unemployed.
Sen. Chris Rector, R-Thomaston and Republicans;
KEEP YOUR GRUBBY HANDS OFF MY HARD EARNED MONEY
A lot of Republicans on that committee lied on how they would vote on this issue to many labor leaders. Apparently they only want to be one term representatives. Republicans = liars.
all they think about is cutting benefits and making people find work, what about the select handfull of people that are laid off from seasonal employers like construction, concrete, and landscapers that will be called back in the spring..Why would someone that was laid off from a well paying seasonal job take a job for less money with someone else for a short time only to quit that job to return to the one that laid them off in the first place. I understand some people abuse the system and those are the ones that need the penalizing. All it should take is a letter from the employer to unemployment promising a call back when work becomes available..As for the vacation pay, i earn it and my employer has to pay a percentage to unemployment for hours i work, i feel that is not double dipping.. It was time earned. And if they are goin to get technical, why are we forced to wait a week or 2 before we are eligible to collect, are our employers making unemployment wait a week before they get their percentage, OF COURSE NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Recall LePage and stop the REAL fraud in Maine !!!
Yet another example of the Republican’s war on the people for the benefit of business. Disgusting
Remember folks, its People before Politics. Since corporations are now people, this claim can be made, I guess. This is ALEC again.
I will post the ALEC primer again: If it sounds like a bill that would benefit only large corporations and do irreparable damage to workers rights and wages, it is probably an ALEC bill. ALEC is where corporations go to give Santa their wish lists and they get written into model legislation. Once crafted, your neighbors in the statehouse, like Sen. Rosen, carry those bills to the floor.
In case you have not been keeping up on this Maine has a state senator for ALEC and that is Senator Rich Rosen of Bucksport. It is important to know who the conduit for anti-worker legislation is. We need to remember so that as workers we can repay the favor in November. Once again, thats Rich Rosen, state senator from ALEC.
If it is not a “big issue” then we have bigger fish to fry. Let’s not waste the last weeks of this session on this stuff.
I have met unemployed people who spend all their time looking for work – and will take any job offers they get – and keep looking. Then again, I’ve met unemployed people who do their best to not get hired “on the books” after losing their job so they can get the u/e check and the cash . . . what does this law do to stop this type of fraud?