A positive covid test could make you ineligible for unemployment benefits because you’re not ‘ready to work’
SICK Americans excluded with Covid are not eligible to claim unemployment benefits – but there is a loophole.
Driven by the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant, as well as the Delta strain, the number of people testing positive for Coronavirus bubble now.
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According to Johns Hopkins University, there are more than 480,000 new daily cases on average every seven days.
Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reduce isolation The time period for people without symptoms ranges from 10 days to five.
According to Michele Evermore, senior policy adviser on unemployment insurance at the US Department of Labor, anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and is staying home to isolate and recover will not be eligible. to claim unemployment benefits.
By law, Americans must be “capable and willing” to work in order to claim assistance.
People with Covid do not meet this requirement, according to Evermore.
s[Unemployment insurance] The Department of Labor wrote to state workforce management agencies, the benefits regulator, in March 2020.
However, this has not always been the case since the pandemic began.
The CARES Act relief legislation created a temporary unemployment program that provides unemployment aid to people who are sick and others, such as contract workers, who would not normally qualify for unemployment insurance. unemployment insurance.
federal program, Pandemic Unemployment Support, ended on Labor Day.
While the current general rule is that people who test positive for Covid will no longer be eligible for unemployment benefits, there is a loophole.
This is not necessarily true for people who are isolated due to potential Covid exposure and have to quit their jobs, Evermore said.
They can claim benefits because they are technically capable and willing to work.
Vaccine efficacy & Omicron
Expert studies have shown that the risk of severe illness from Covid-19 is reduced by 90% or more in fully vaccinated people.
While there have been breakthrough cases of Covid in vaccinated people, they are rare.
In the event of a breakout, it is highly unlikely that the victim will be hospitalized with severe symptoms or die from the virus.
Health officials have recommended that the Omicron variant is more infectious and could lead to further breakout cases.
However, the spread could be offset by all vaccinated Americans getting a booster shot.
Current vaccines are expected to protect against severe illness, hospitalization, and death from infection with the Omicron variant.
With other variants, like Delta, the vaccine is still effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death.
Studies have also shown that side effects from vaccines are extremely rare.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In the event that someone working outside, such as a lumberjack or construction worker, who has been quarantined due to possible exposure to Covid, can technically work online while they isolated.
They can work but not in their usual job.
“An individual can be quarantined or affected by Covid-19 but still be eligible to [unemployment compensation], subject to state law,” according to a Labor Department memo.
Americans with Covid can get paid sick leave at their workplace, and if that’s the case, they won’t need to receive unemployment benefits.
However, federal laws that temporarily enhanced the ability to take paid leave earlier during the pandemic have now expired.
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https://www.the-sun.com/money/4420919/positive-covid-test-ineligible-unemployment-benefit-work/ A positive covid test could make you ineligible for unemployment benefits because you’re not ‘ready to work’