Unemployment Insurance

It's Time 10-Month Employees Get Their Fair Share

Through the Federal stimulus bill, unemployment insurance reform has come closer to being fully funded than ever before.  Unfortunately, this has brought a flurry of unemployment insurance reform bills through the Assembly and Senate; most of these fall short of dealing with the grave injustice that our 10-month non-professional employees face each summer.

There are currently two bills that address our concerns and seek to give 10-month non-professional employees coverage while school is not in session: A4920 and A1220-A.  Many other bills are narrowly focused on raising the benefits for current recipients, and we feel it is the most important priority to first expand coverage to 10-month employees. While indexation of an increased benefit is important, we need our 10-month employees covered first! It is appalling that session workers in Albany work 6 months out of the year and qualify for unemployment insurance the other six months, and our 10-month employees are not afforded the same treatment.

We are currently in conversations with Susan John, head of the Labor Committee in the NYS Assembly, to reach a consensus and get a bill passed that addresses the needs of 10-month employees.  The “reasonable assurance” clause is keeping our members from being eligible for Unemployment Insurance, leaving them unable to pay bills over the summer; getting a job for three months is nearly impossible, especially in this job climate. 

While the NYS Senate has been turned upside-down, it is important to continue talking to your legislators because these issues are not going to disappear! We need Unemployment Insurance coverage for our 10-month employees! The injustices of the Unemployment system have gone on for far too long; it’s time to urge Albany to turn the tide and take care of 10-month employees as well.