On January 22, 2021, President Biden signed a series of executive orders, including an order addressing economic relief.
This order includes the following provision:
Help ensure that unemployed Americans no longer have to choose between paying their bills and keeping themselves and their families safe from COVID-19 by asking the U.S. Department of Labor to consider clarifying that workers who refuse unsafe working conditions can still receive unemployment insurance
It is a bit unclear what the scope of consideration might be for the Secretary of Labor, but it would be helpful to review that which is already in place to address these issues.
- The general policy that individuals may refuse offers of work and/or quit when the conditions of work are not safe is well established and addressed in non-monetary policy training guidance going back decades.
- Each state already addresses these issues as a matter of state statute, administrative rule, and/or policy
- Federal statutory provisions in Section 303(a) (12) of the Social Security Act require states to condition payments on individuals being able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.
- Determinations of whether individuals may be disqualified or denied state paid and employer financed unemployment insurance benefits are the responsibility of state agencies under state and federal law.
States, employers and individuals applying for unemployment compensation have already addressed these issues related to COVID-19 in administration since March of 2020. We are not aware that there has been a significant number of disqualifications or denials of UI claims in cases involving COVID-19 at the workplace.
If the Secretary of Labor considers new guidance it should be carefully developed to avoid conflicts with existing law and sound administrative practice that is already in place.
