Settlement proposed in class-action lawsuit over delayed Oregon jobless pay
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Oregon Employment Department and the Oregon Law Center announced Wednesday they have submitted a proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit over delayed jobless benefit payments..
The suit, filed by 14 Oregonians who waited weeks or months for unemployment benefits, sought to resolve issues related to timeliness challenges and language barriers faced by Oregonians filing for unemployment benefits through the Employment Department.
"Both parties wish to avoid unnecessary litigation and instead work together to improve the Employment Department’s timeliness in serving unemployed Oregonians." said the agency's announcement, which continues in full below:
“I am pleased that we are one step closer to finalizing this settlement,” said Oregon Employment Department Acting Director David Gerstenfeld. “Our priority has always been to serve Oregonians in need, and to pay everyone the benefits they are eligible for as quickly as we can.
"We have made significant headway since the onset of the pandemic, improving our communication with claimants, offering more services and resources in languages other than English, processing claims more quickly, and closing in on our backlog. We are committed to doing right by the Oregonians relying on us, reaching the goals set forth in the proposed settlement, and being transparent about our progress along the way.”
Lisa Exterovich, a single mother who lost work because of the pandemic, is one of the named petitioners.
"After I lost my job, I applied for unemployment. I waited months for benefits to begin without knowing what was happening -- I couldn't pay rent, and I really worried about how it would affect my daughter and I. I decided to join the lawsuit to be an advocate for myself and other people with similar stories,” she said.
Exterovich said she supports the settlement because "the Employment Department is committing to paying people benefits more quickly, working to improve communications with those seeking benefits, and providing assistance to people who don’t speak English."
As part of the settlement, the Employment Department has committed to meeting certain timeliness targets and providing services to Oregonians with limited English proficiency (LEP). In addition to increasing staffing and training so as to process UI, PUA, and other claims more quickly, and expanding service options for LEP individuals, the Employment Department has agreed to:
- Meet federal timeliness targets for paying benefits, by March 1, 2021, and for adjudicating claims, by April 1, 2021;
- Completely work through all claims in adjudication as of mid-January, by March 1, 2021;
- Address long wait times for people who have had to restart their claims;
- Improve phone access and access to benefit applications for LEP individuals, and;
- Allow eligible LEP individual who were unable to apply for unemployment benefits due to language barriers to backdate their claims to the extent the law allows and create an action plan to address this issue.
In addition, the agreement makes allowances for more time in certain circumstances (for example, when there are issues verifying a claimant’s identity).
The full text of the proposed settlement and answers to Frequently Asked Questions can be found at oregonlawcenter.org/oed-class-action-lawsuit/.
For more information about unemployment benefits, visit unemployment.oregon.gov.
Gerstenfeld also issued this update Wednesday on related issues:
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
We have three issues we want to highlight:
- Some PUA claims will begin expiring because our Unemployment Insurance system is designed for claims to be paid for one year. Even with an expired PUA claim, people are still eligible to receive up to 11 additional weeks of PUA provided through the federal Continued Assistance Act (CAA).
○ We are working on paying these PUA benefits along with the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefits retroactively. It is important to keep filing for PUA every week even if you see in the Online Claim System that your claim is expired.
○ We want people to know that they will receive PUA benefits on time the week their claim expires, however, future benefits will be delayed until our system programming is complete. We have already begun work on this, as it is a top priority for us.
○ You can find out when your PUA claim expires by logging into the Online Claim System and clicking on “Time and Money Left on Claim.”
2. We know moving back and forth among different benefit programs can be confusing for many people, so we have been actively reaching out to claimants. Unfortunately, about 1,400 people claimed the week ending Jan. 30 under PUA. We emailed them this morning and sent out a social media update letting them know they need to file their weekly claim again using the “Regular UI Weekly Claim” option because their PUA benefits have stopped and PEUC benefits are available to them.
- The Continued Assistance Act (CAA) passed by Congress provides up to 11 additional weeks of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. We have received new guidance from the U.S. Dept. of Labor stating that everyone in the PUA program is entitled to an additional 11 weeks of benefits.
○ The CAA only allows us to begin paying CAA benefits after Dec. 27, 2020.
○ Although PUA is limited to 50 weeks, because of High Extended Benefits, some people will receive more than 50 weeks of PUA benefits and others will receive less. We have created a page on our website to help people understand how these benefits work.
○ The webpage mentions a PEUC and PUA phase out period that is in the CAA. Although PUA and PEUC benefits expire after the week ending March 13, 2021, the phase out period allows some people receiving PUA and PEUC to claim benefits through the week ending April 10. We will talk more about this in March. People may be eligible for the phase out period if:
■ They receive a benefit payment for the week ending March 13 AND
■ There are weeks left on the person’s PEUC / PUA claim
2021 Employer Payroll Tax Relief
● We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted some businesses across Oregon. OED is taking additional action in 2021 to help employers by offering relief for 2021 UI payroll taxes.
● Penalties or interest may not be assessed for taxes covering calendar year 2021 for some employers. Employer requirements are in our UI Payroll Tax fact sheet.
● This payroll tax relief continues efforts we started in 2020 when we used our existing authority to offer relief to businesses impacted by the pandemic.
● Our UI Payroll Taxes web page has UI Trust Fund and employer payroll tax FAQs, fact sheets and additional information.
Unemployment Webinar
● Our next unemployment webinar is scheduled for 1 pm Thursday, Feb. 11. We will talk about CAA updates, including the PUA clarifications mentioned in this statement.
Legislative update
This week, Acting Director David Gerstenfeld testified before legislative committees and provided background information on SB 495 and SB 496.
● We presented on our budget requests for next biennium and stated that our priorities are:
○ Continuing to improve how quickly we can get people their benefits,
○ Increasing focus on helping workers find new jobs and businesses find workers as we move more into the recovery from the recession,
○ Modernizing our technology,
○ Building the PFMLI program, and
○ Providing reliable data and analyses about the workforce and labor market to inform policymakers and others
● Senate Bill 495
○ Special provisions apply to UI benefits for people who work for educational institutions. Generally speaking, that means people who work for them cannot get benefits during school breaks if they are likely to do the same type of work after a break as they did before.
○ These are very technical state and federal laws. They make a distinction between those doing what federal law calls ‘professional’ work and everything else. States are required to apply these types of provisions to people who do professional work, but have more leeway for those doing other types of work. “Professional” means people who do instructional, research, or principal administrative work.
○ Federal law requires us to look at the type of work being done, not the job title or licensing requirements.
○ We have asked the U.S. Department of Labor for a preliminary determination on this bill, but have not yet heard back. Although SB 495 has a ‘savings clause’ saying the provisions will not be effective if the US Dept. of Labor tells us they are prohibited by federal law, it would mean having laws ‘on the books’ that have no effect. This is an important point because leaving the language in could confuse the public when they try to figure out how laws apply to them.
● Senate Bill 496
○ This proposed bill also addresses the special UI laws applicable to educational employees. It includes an exception for services performed as an employee of a federal Head Start program. We believe this would violate federal requirements. We have asked the U.S. Dept. of Labor for a preliminary determination on this bill, but have not yet heard back. Prior formal guidance from the U.S. Dept. of Labor on these topics makes it clear that in some circumstances, states are required to apply school employee laws to Head Start employees. While school employee laws do not generally apply to Head Start employees, in some circumstances they are required to.
○ Prior U.S. Dept. of Labor guidance also makes it clear that when making exceptions to the school employee laws, the exceptions need to be based on certain factors – primarily the timing of the work performed and the type of services performed. Making distinctions based on who the employer is, whether it is a private or public-sector school, where the employer is located, and many other variables, is not allowed.
○ A provision in this bill will increase benefit payments to people during school breaks who do food preparation and service work for educational institutions. Most educational employers do not pay UI taxes, but instead reimburse the UI Trust Fund, dollar for dollar, for any benefits paid out. Most of the increase in benefits paid as a result of this bill, would be reimbursed to the UI Trust Fund by educational employers.
○ We are working on cost projections for this bill. Very rough preliminary estimates show this will cost educational employers about $1.6 million annually.
