Bill cuts off seasonal jobless benefits
By C. Ryan Barber, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
From December up until this week, she supported herself with a weekly
This annual routine -- working by summer, collecting benefits by winter -- is a way of life for some of Vermehren's fellow landscapers and small-business owners on the Cape and Islands, where the seasonal economy would otherwise force many to move away.
"I don't make a lot of money. I have a decent business, but we don't make enough to put aside
But, as the owner of her
The House legislation, which calls for unemployment insurance reforms and raising the minimum wage from
The bill states that there is a "rebuttable presumption" that employees such as business owners, corporate officers and partners have control over their employment status -- "and all benefits paid to the employee during the benefit year shall be considered an overpayment, which the employee shall repay."
The section also would apply to cases in which an employee has more than a 5 percent stake in the employer.
While all unemployment benefit decisions can be appealed,
"It basically says if you collect unemployment and you return to your company in the benefit year, we're going to assume you had control over your employment status," said Dufresne, whose office oversees the state
State Rep.
"My concern is for the small retail operation, the landscaper, other small businesses like that, for whom the ability to accept unemployment benefits makes the difference and makes it possible to be around here and still open their business in the spring," Peake added.
Of the five amendments she has filed for the bill, two relate to that section of the legislation. The first, filed with state Rep.
As a fallback option, the two Democrats filed another amendment that would make the section apply only to businesses with more than
Peake said she "pulled the
Madden could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Vermehren said the unemployment benefits that last her through the winter are hardly handouts. As the owner of her business, Vermehren pays for unemployment insurance, "just like I pay for health insurance or car insurance," she said.
"If they can't collect, why should they have to pay the tax on their own wage?" she asked Tuesday.
For business owners who do not have employees and would not qualify for unemployment benefits, state Rep.
Dufresne said the unemployment insurance system is designed to cover the involuntarily unemployed, not business owners who elect not to work at a particular time. The House bill, she said, draws that distinction.
"The concept is it's a presumption," she said. "It's presumed that you quit, and you had control over your unemployment."
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