Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (https://kycir.org/tag/unemployment-insurance/)
The most recent federal coronavirus relief package finally grants states that option, but it will have no effect in Kentucky. That’s because debt forgiveness still isn’t allowed under state law.
KyCIR has documented the unemployment office’s hurried steps to make payments quickly as the pandemic shut down businesses in the spring.
The federal government set aside $7 billion in 2009 to modernize the nation’s unemployment systems. Kentucky left its portion on the table.
Education professionals can’t claim unemployment during the summer break that started in Louisville on May 31, a caveat the state doesn’t appear to have made clear when it extended benefits to substitute teachers. Subs who continued to file for unemployment after summer break began are now expected to repay anything the state paid in error.
Gov. Andy Beshear acknowledged that Kentucky mistakenly overpaid people who requested unemployment benefits — and advised recipients to save that money.
It’s unclear if state officials ever communicated the change to out-of-work Kentuckians after the state received new guidance in April.
In a written decision, a state official said self-quarantining isn’t a legitimate reason to claim unemployment – and that the governor never told a private citizen to leave their job.
Kentucky officials likely underpaid some workers and overpaid others who weren’t eligible for the benefits they received.
The state is required to collect when a person has been overpaid in unemployment benefits — even if it wasn’t their fault. That means some are learning about their state debt only after they’re in need of unemployment again.
The former executive director of the Kentucky Office of Unemployment Insurance told legislators Thursday the agency’s chaotic rush to deliver benefits in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic led to months-long delays — and may have violated federal unemployment regulations.
Muncie McNamara testified before the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Investment. The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting first reported the details of McNamara’s time at the Office of Unemployment Insurance earlier this month; he was hired personally by Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman in January and fired in May, amid the chaos of the pandemic.
McNamara spoke for almost half an hour about the issues he saw at the agency. After his testimony, Republican lawmakers questioned him about Gov. Andy Beshear’s response, the months-long delays and data security. Only one Democratic lawmaker was called on to ask questions.
McNamara told legislators that neither he nor Josh Benton, the Deputy Secretary for the Cabinet for Education and Workforce Development, were consulted before Beshear announced a statewide shutdown of in-person business that led to a massive spike in unemployment.
According to McNamara, Beshear and Benton wanted to quickly extend benefits to independent contractors and other workers who previously wouldn’t have qualified.
“[Benton] stated he wanted to do this as soon as possible, and he did not want to wait for the feds, the U.S. Department of Labor, to act,” McNamara testified. “He wanted Kentucky to take the lead in this.”
McNamara said that decision to move quickly at the beginning has contributed to the months-long delays for benefits the state is now trying to untangle.