ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701200018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
GOV. GEORGE ALLEN wants to cut the unemployment tax, but some workers say the state should pay out more benefits instead.
Barbara Austin left her job at a Salem laundry to move with her husband and four children to Russell County. Her husband, who was out of work, had gone there to care for his aging mother.
Austin applied for unemployment compensation, but the Virginia Employment Commission turned her down. Virginia law says workers can't collect jobless benefits if they quit a job to move with a spouse, even if their spouses' employers transfer them. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the state rule.
For supporters of Virginia's jobless benefits program, the rule is an example of the state's reasonable efforts to limit employers' unemployment-insurance costs - and prevent workers from taking advantage of the system.
Bayard Harris, a Roanoke Valley lawyer who represents employers, said it's up to families to weigh all the economic costs before they make a decision to move. "I don't think it's fair for a family to say `We need to be in North Dakota' and then make a Virginia employer pay for that decision," Harris said.
The system's critics say the rule is an example of how the state prevents the vast majority of unemployed people from getting jobless benefits. They say it discriminates against women and low-wage, part-time and seasonal workers.
Federal figures show that fewer than 18 percent of unemployed people in Virginia collect jobless benefits - the lowest percentage in the nation in 1995.
"It's just a disgracefully low number," said Hugh O'Donnell, a far Southwest Virginia lawyer who has represented hundreds of unemployed people. "You're not talking about a safety net. You're talking about a hole, basically."
The state's jobless benefits system has come under scrutiny as Gov. George Allen has proposed cutting unemployment taxes on businesses. The state has about $850 million in its jobless benefits trust fund, and Allen calls it a surplus that should be used to give businesses a break.
Some legislators and even business leaders doubt there's a windfall. They say dollars need to build up in the fund while unemployment is low, so there will be enough when the economy gets worse. Virginia's jobless trust fund went bankrupt during the early 1980s recession.
If there is extra money, workers' advocates say, it should be used to increase benefits and open the system to more people.
According to the U.S. Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, Virginia has some of the most restrictive - perhaps the most restrictive - rules in the nation for who gets jobless benefits.
For those who do qualify, the benefits they receive are also among the lowest in the nation. The 1994 average weekly benefit of $169 ranked 28th in the nation, amounting to just under one-third of the state's average wage. Last year, the General Assembly increased the maximum unemployment benefit from $208 to $224, but critics say the top benefit has not kept pace with inflation.
Under Virginia law, unemployed people cannot collect benefits if they quit without "good cause" or if they're fired for misconduct.
Bridgett Beckner of Botetourt County fought for eight months to get benefits after she left her job at a Roanoke grocery store.
Beckner, 42, was the floral manager, and her department came up thousands of dollars short of merchandise during an inventory. She said that was normal - other departments had higher shortfalls - but she never got a chance to account for the deficit.
Store managers found no wrongdoing on her part, but they said she couldn't handle the department - so they told her she had to take a pay cut and a demotion to cashier.
She got several benefit checks during her appeals through the VEC, but she put them in a savings account rather than spend them. She was afraid she would lose in the end and have to pay the money back.
The benefits were modest, she said. They were "better than nothing. But I had to hang onto them for so long."
Along with deciding whether workers are at fault when they lose their jobs, the state also uses a complex earnings formula to screen out people. Workers must have earned at least $3,250 over six months to qualify for benefits after they're out of job. It is the most stringent earnings requirement in the nation. Critics say it shuts out many part-time and minimum-wage workers, who are often women.
But Harris, the employers' attorney, said the rule is set up to stop people who "play the system" and milk it for benefits.
"I don't think it's fair for employers to bear the burden of people who really would just rather stay home than work," he said. "It should not be a giveaway program."
Harris said people shouldn't criticize the program's low national rankings. They are something to be proud of, he said, because the numbers show Virginia has sound rules that prevent abuse and keep business taxes down.
VEC commissioner Thomas Towberman said the state has conservative rules for who gets benefits. But at the same time, he said, the federal figures make Virginia seem stricter than it is. "It's maybe not quite the extreme that you see" by just glancing at the figures, he said.
Danny LeBlanc, state AFL-CIO president, said Virginia should catch up with the rest of the nation by expanding the program. "We ought to adjust the unemployment system in the state to at least reflect the 20th century as we enter the 21st century."
He said the state's workers don't want giveaways - they just want a program that will tide them over when they lose their jobs. The benefits aren't much, he said, but for somebody who is out of work, "they can make the difference between having food on the table or not having food on the table that month."
To leave a message for state legislators about the unemployment tax or other issues, call (800)889-0229 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays or write c/o General Assembly Building, State Capitol, Richmond, Va. 23219.
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff Bridgett Beckner had to go through fiveby CNBappeals to receive her unemployment compensation when she found
herself out of work. color. Graphics: Charts. 1. At the bottom.
color. 2. High wages, low benefits. Qualifying for help. KEYWORDS: MGR GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997