Join Effort to Make More Women Workers Eligible for Benefits of Unemployment Insurance Program

Currently women, low-wage-workers, and those who are new to the work force are less likely to qualify for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits during periods of unemployment. This spring the Illinois House of Representatives created the Subcommittee on Unemployment Insurance for the New Workforce to look into how Illinois’s UI program is serving the needs of the state’s work force and businesses. This subcommittee will hold hearings throughout the state to collect information about the UI system and develop recommendations for a full report by December 1, 2000. The first hearing is scheduled for September 7 at 10:00 a.m. at the Thompson Center, 100 West Randolph Street in Chicago. The National Center on Poverty Law wants to ensure that the legislators hear from women and low-wage workers about how the UI program can be improved to serve their needs better.

Please help identify witnesses who can testify about the following issues:

Violence against women.

Workers are disqualified for UI for "voluntarily quitting" or even "misconduct" because of tardiness or absenteeism when the reason for leaving the job or the "misconduct" is related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Issues may include the need to move to a shelter or other safe housing, attend court proceedings, seek medical help and related health problems, or deal with problems with the children due to the violence.

Lack of child care.

Workers are disqualified for UI for "voluntarily quitting" or even "misconduct" due to tardiness or absenteeism when the reason for leaving the job or the "misconduct" was the collapse of child care arrangements. This can even happen when the reason for losing child care was a change in work circumstances, such as a shift change.

Insufficient earnings.

Individuals are often denied UI benefits because of insufficient earnings over the specified base period. (Virtually all who have recently lost jobs and returned to welfare are in this position because they cannot get welfare until they show that they are ineligible for UI. People who fall into this category are unlikely to recognize the denial of UI benefits as a significant event. Seasonal workers, such as construction workers, are also often hurt by this policy.)

Part-time work.

Workers are denied UI benefits because they are seeking only part-time work. This can happen even to individuals who earned enough while working part-time to meet the eligibility standards for the UI program.

Birth or adoption of a child.

Parents on leave for the birth or adoption of a child are not eligible for UI benefits and can therefore suffer financial problems.

Health.

Workers on leave for short-term health reasons are not eligible for UI benefits and can therefore suffer financial problems.

If you or someone you know can testify to any of these issues, please contact Wendy Pollack or John Bouman, National Center on Poverty Law, 312.263.3830 ext. 238 (Wendy) or ext. 250 (John), or wendypollack@povertylaw.org. Thank you.